Fratelli Tutti

I. Background
On the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis, on October 4, 2020, released the third
encyclical letter of his papacy with the title Fratelli Tutti, on fraternity and social friendship. As with
Laudato Si’, the title is an Italian quotation from St Francis, translated as “brothers and sisters all.”

The encyclical affirms and applies the principles of Catholic social teaching to the “new things”
of 2020: a global pandemic, an economic crisis, political polarization, and social isolation and
exclusion. In this time of social distancing, Pope Francis reminds us that we ought to love our brothers
and sisters.
Fratelli Tutti is a universal message, but it has particular implications for the United States a
month before an election. Pope Francis calls us to practice “political charity” at a time of anger,
division, and loss, and to pursue the common good and measure our choices by how they touch
the “least of these.”
St. Francis of Assisi’s fraternal love, simplicity and joy, who inspired him to write the Encyclical
Laudato Si’, prompts him once more to devote this new Encyclical to fraternity and social friendship.
In this powerful letter, he now challenges us to respond with love, fraternity, and friendship in a divided
and hurting world. “...Although I have written it from the Christian convictions that inspire and sustain
me, I have sought to make this reflection an invitation to dialogue among all people of good will. (FT, 6)

II. Main Theme and CST Themes/Principles

a. Main Theme- Fraternal Love and Social Friendship. The pope highlights the global solidarity needed to
heal the world of the other sicknesses (social, spiritual, ecological) So, the encyclical is not only
addressed to world leaders, but to all, seeking the inclusion and participation of every person in
preparing a better future. He said: “I offer this social Encyclical as a modest contribution to continued
reflection, in the hope that in the face of present-day attempts to eliminate or ignore others, we may
prove capable of responding with a new vision of fraternity and social friendship.” (FT, 6)

b. CST Principles
 Human Dignity- Fratelli Tutti is a radical challenge, offering a blueprint for a world after
coronavirus. It turns the world upside down, placing human dignity at the centre.
Pope Francis said, “God has created all human beings equal in rights, duties and dignity,
and has called them to live together as brothers and sisters”.[FT, 5].

It is my desire that, in this our time, by acknowledging the dignity of each human person,
we can contribute to the rebirth of a universal aspiration to fraternity (FT, 8).

In this new encyclical, Francis renews his warnings against a “throwaway culture:”

He said: “Some parts of our human family, it appears, can be readily sacrificed for the
sake of others considered worthy of a carefree existence. Ultimately, “persons are no
longer seen as a paramount value to be cared for and respected, especially when they
are poor and disabled, ‘not yet useful’ – like the unborn, or ‘no longer needed’ – like the
elderly” (#18).
 “No one is useless and no one is expendable” (#215).

 Solidarity- The encyclical calls for the creation of a new kind of solidarity to tackle the
crises the world is currently facing. He said, “No one can face life in isolation… We need
a community that supports and helps us, in which we can help one another to keep
looking ahead.
“Let us dream, then, as a single human family, as fellow travelers sharing the same
flesh, as children of the same earth which is our common home, each of us bringing the
richness of his or her beliefs and convictions, each of us with his or her own voice,
brothers and sisters all.” (FT, 8)

Solidarity means much more than engaging in sporadic acts of generosity. It means
thinking and acting in terms of community. It means
that the lives of all are prior to the appropriation of goods by a few. It also means
combatting the structural causes of poverty, inequality, the lack of work, land and
housing, the denial of social and labour rights (#116).

 Subsidiarity and Participation - the encyclical is not only addressed to world leaders,
but to all, seeking the inclusion and participation of every person in preparing a better
future. In line with the principle of subsidiarity, however, we don’t have to wait for
world leaders and governments to solve the world’s problems:
“We should not expect everything from those who govern us, for that would be
childish.” (QT, 77).

Governments and world leaders are called upon to support the initiatives of more local
actors or smaller organizations.

III. SEE

The Encyclical gave us a scenario were people and leaders try to work for themselves and disregard
other people especially those who are in need of assistance and most vulnerable especially during wars
and pandemic which violate our respect for human dignity

In today’s world, the sense of belonging to a single human family is fading, and the dream of
working together for justice and peace seems an outdated utopia. What reigns instead is a
cool, comfortable and globalized indifference, born of deep disillusionment concealed behind
a deceptive illusion: thinking that we are all-powerful, while failing to realize that we are all
in the same boat.… Isolation and withdrawal into one’s own interests are never the way to
restore hope and bring about renewal. Rather, it is closeness; it is the culture of encounter.
Isolation, no; closeness, yes. Culture clash, no; culture of encounter, yes” (#30).

“The gap between concern for one’ s personal well-being and the prosperity of the larger human family
seems to be stretching to the point of complete division between individuals and human community…
The Covid-19 pandemic made us realize that our lives are interwoven.
“The notion of “every man for himself” will rapidly degenerate into a free-for-all that would
prove worse than any pandemic (#36)

“A worldwide tragedy like the Covid-19 pandemic momentarily revived the sense that we are a global
communityty, all in the same boat, where one person’s problems are the problems of all. Once more we
realized that no one is saved alone; we can only be saved together (32).”

IV. JUDGE

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. Each day we
have to decide whether to be Good Samaritans or indifferent bystanders.… All of us have in
ourselves something of the wounded man, something of the robber, something of the passersby, and
something of the Good Samaritan (#69)

“The true worth of the different countries of our world is measured by their ability to think not simply as
a country but also as part of the larger human family (141).”

“In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets” (Mt
7:12). This command is universal in scope, embracing everyone on the basis of our shared humanity,
since the heavenly Father “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good” (Mt 5:45). Hence the
summons to “be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36).

“You shall not wrong or oppress a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Ex 22:21).
“For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’”

Those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not
seen” (1 Jn 4:20).

love does not care if a brother or sister in need comes from one place or another. For “love shatters the
chains that keep us isolated and separate; in their place, it builds bridges. Love enables us to create one
great family, where all of us can feel at home… Love exudes compassion and dignity”.[56]

V. ACT

“Government leaders should be the first to make the sacrifices that foster encounter and to seek
convergence on at least some issues. They should be ready to listen to other points of view and to make
room for everyone” (FT, 190).

Once more, I appeal for a renewed appreciation of politics as “a lofty vocation and one of the highest
forms of charity, inasmuch as it seeks the common good” (#180).

…belief in God and the worship of God are not enough to ensure that we are actually living in a way
pleasing to God. A believer may be untrue to everything that his faith demands of him, and yet think he
is close to God and better than others. The guarantee of an authentic openness to God, on the other
hand, is a way of practicing the faith that helps open our hearts to our brothers and sisters (#74).
The encyclical does not fit the ideological or cultural framework of right and left. Pope Francis strongly
warns that fraternity, friendship, and solidarity cannot be built on ethical relativism or a world without
moral truth:

[W]e have had enough of immorality and the mockery of ethics, goodness, faith and honesty. It is time
to acknowledge that light-hearted superficiality has done us no good.… Every society needs to ensure
that values are passed on; otherwise, what is handed down are selfishness, violence, corruption in its
various forms, indifference and, ultimately, a life closed to transcendence and entrenched in individual
interests (#113). The solution is not relativism. Under the guise of tolerance, relativism ultimately leaves
the interpretation of moral values to those in power, to be defined as they see fit (#206).

A. Acts of Charity

Community Pantry- Free Sari-Sari Store or Food Packs in Barangays started in Maginhawa St., Q.C.
during lockdown as a form of Solidarity to help those affected by forced quarantine and giving
preferential option to the poor and mostly affected during the Pandemic.
“To give what you can afford and to get what is enough for you or the family.”

B. Acts of Justice

As Catholics we can first of all pray for unity and organize peaceful dialogue between nations and
communities, without which we cannot heal the world after the pandemic

In light of the encyclical’s invitation to consider all our brothers and sisters, we should be in solidarity
with local communities to ensure transparency in the use of money we borrowed from WB and IMF in
the procurement of vaccines, and distribution of Ayuda for the Common Good but especially giving
Preferential Option to the Poot.