Fratelli tutti

 On Saturday, Pope Francis issued a new encyclical, Fratelli tutti, inspired, in his words, “particularly by Saint Francis of Assisi, but also by others of our brothers and sisters who are not Catholics: Martin Luther King, Desmond Tutu, Mahatma Gandhi and many more.”

 In doing so, he followed up on his previous encyclical, “Laudato si’.” According to Vatican News, in that earlier encyclical, the Pope “clearly delineated the connections that exist between the environmental crisis, the social crisis, war, migration and poverty. He indicated the goal to reach: a more just economic and social system, one that would respect creation, that would put the human person at the center as the guardian of mother earth rather than money, elevated as an absolute god.

With the new encyclical, Vatican News continued, the Pope “shows the concrete way to reach that goal: recognizing ourselves as brothers and sisters because we are children, one another’s keepers, everyone in the same boat, as this pandemic has made even more evident.” 

Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement welcoming Pope Francis’ new encyclical. He said,

 “God’s plan for humanity, the Pope reminds us, has implications for every aspect of our lives — from how we treat one another in our personal relationships, to how we organize and operate our societies and economies.

 “In analyzing conditions in the world today, the Holy Father provides us with a powerful and urgent vision for the moral renewal of politics and political and economic institutions from the local level to the global level, calling us to build a common future that truly serves the good of the human person.

 

“For the Church, the Pope is challenging us to overcome the individualism in our culture and to serve our neighbors in love, seeing Jesus Christ in every person, and seeking a society of justice and mercy, compassion and mutual concern."

Vatican News provides a long summary of the encyclical here. A shorter version is available here.