Be Good Samaritans

Pope Francis’s 2020 encyclical Fratelli Tutti: On Fraternity and Social Friendship focuses on issues the Pope has addressed before about the contemporary world and the part the Church could play in it. It adds some specific applications to more recent issues such the condition of migrants and the COVID-19 pandemic.

There is no doubt about the thrust of Francis’s thought. Charity or love is his central concern and must not be reduced to a simple, personal, one-on-one virtue. It is a virtue that we practise together. Our Churches, our social institutions and our politics need to be imbued with this open vision excluding no one. “Kindness” is a central virtue that is both personal and corporate. “If someone helps an elderly person cross a river, that is a fine act of charity. The politician, on the other hand, builds a bridge, and that too is an act of charity” (FT par 186).

Francis begins from the conviction that no one can face life in isolation. His dream is for a single human family which includes all people throughout the world and in which we all relate to one another as brothers and sisters.

A Stranger on the Road

At first sight this encyclical may be intimidating because of its sheer size (43,000 words) and its dense papal language. A reader-friendly entry into the spirit of the encyclical would be to start with the second chapter entitled “A stranger on the road”. This second chapter is a reflection on the familiar parable of the “good Samaritan” who comes to the aid of a man who had fallen among robbers (Luke 10:25-37). The pope treats this story as an analogy where many different parts of the story have modern equivalents or applications.

Many Tui Motu readers would easily find here a source of inspiration for our own prayerful reflection and meditation. Or, alternatively, this second chapter could be seen as the hopeful response to the lament for the modern world at the heart of the encyclical’s first chapter.

With the second chapter as an introduction we can get a further sense of the spirit of the encyclical from the sequence of the chapter titles: Dark clouds over a closed world, A stranger on the road, Envisaging and engendering an open world, A heart open to the whole world, A better kind of politics, Dialogue and friendship in society, Paths of renewed encounter, Religions at the service of fraternity in our world.

Open World and Open Heart

The “dark clouds” over a closed world include terrible injustices, discrimination and suffering. At a different level within these dark clouds, important concepts like democracy, freedom, justice, unity and concern for the common good are being deformed. In response to this dark state of the world, Pope Francis advocates a more open world, free of selfishness, where there is a sense of solidarity and the dignity of all people, including strangers and refugees. In an open world, the goods of the world would be seen to belong to all people not just our own families or our own nation.

This more open world requires in us an open heart, open especially to those who flee situations of conflict or poverty. Such an open heart calls for international and long-term collaboration that deals in a human and generous way with modern mass migration and which supports the development of all peoples.

To achieve this we will need a better politics, a politics which fosters subsidiarity and solidarity among peoples. We will need a politics which finds a solution to current attacks on fundamental human rights: social exclusion; the marketing of organs, tissues, weapons and drugs; sexual exploitation; slave labour; terrorism and organised crime; and human trafficking. Francis supports a reform of the United Nations for this purpose.

Francis proposes also a concept of life as the “art of encounter”, a society of dialogue and friendship, where no one is useless, no one is expendable. Kindness is a key to this society. He promotes peace always connected to justice and mercy. He promotes a religion at the service of friendship in society. He refers several times here to the document on world peace signed jointly in Abu Dhabi by himself and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb in 2019.

Two Complementary Encyclicals

Because this encyclical reinforces much of Pope Francis’s earlier writings, some commentators have suggested that it could be read as an overall summary of Francis’s teaching. Certainly, this encyclical is a continuation and reinforcement of his earlier teaching on the Christian church’s engagement in the wider world as an advocate for peace and justice. It contains very little, however, about the environment and ecology, another major centre of concern for the Pope. Fratelli Tutti: On Fraternity and Social Friendship is best seen, it seems to me, as complementary to his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’: On the Care for Our Common Home. Both these documents were inspired by St Francis of Assisi and both their titles (Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti) are quotations from his writing. The two encyclicals together could be taken as a vision for Christian action, both personal and institutional, in the modern world.

An Encyclical with an Impact?

From the point of view of the English-speaking reader, two features of the encyclical will, sadly, limit severely its impact. The first is its size and complex language. The encyclical is passionate about social inclusion, peace and justice. Its message is so important for today’s society and the Church’s part in mission within it. Yet only a theological and ecclesiastical elite will ever read it. It advocates inclusion of as many people as possible but its own language style communicates with only a few.

The second sad feature is the sexist language that runs through most of it. When Pope Francis writes of “brothers” or “fraternal” he clearly means to include both women and men, and the whole of the encyclical is about social inclusion. Yet most of the encyclical expects that women will see themselves included when addressed as “brothers” or in the terms “fraternal” or “fraternity”. There is some mental block here and it is not clear (not to me anyway) whether this comes from Pope Francis himself or if it is the English translators who do not see this sexist language as a problem of both language and attitude and an exercise in social exclusion.

A Challenge

Yet, both our Church and our society need the force and focus of this encyclical. Some Tui Motu readers will be morally and intellectually hardy enough to read the whole encyclical. If this is you, I would challenge you to pick out a single sentence that could serve us in this part of the world as a motto for our own social friendship and mission action. My own pick is: “The decision to include or exclude those lying wounded along the roadside can serve as a criterion for judging every economic, political, social and religious project” (FT par 69).