It is four years since Pope Francis wrote Fratelli Tutti.  This encyclical was published on the Feast of St Francis of Assisi, 4 October in 2020 and is a call to all peoples of the world to a new fraternity and social friendship.  In Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis reflects on the shadows that are cast over our world.  This very week, we have seen further violence and hatred erupt in the Middle East as it seems that all out war is almost inevitable.  The Middle East is not the only part of our globe where dissension and discord reign.  Fr Jude Johnson, in this week’s newsletter, (28/29 September), has shared his own reflections and dire concerns for the situation in Myanmar, where many of his family and friends still live.  On Migrant and Refugee Sunday we are confronted with the shadow part of our globe in so many locations.  And, of course, dislocation due to war and persecution is a reality now for millions of members of the human race.

In the face of the shadows that are cast over our world, Pope Francis asks how we can possibly respond.  He uses the image of people being injured and lying by the roadside, cast out and discarded.  The shadows, he tells us, plunge humanity into confusion, loneliness and desolation.  When we come across the stranger, injured and lying by the roadside we are face with two options: we can pass by or we can stop to help.

Pope Francis’ call to all human beings is to recognise and respond to each other as brothers and sisters, equal in dignity, throughout the world.  He begins by reminding us that God is universal love.  All human beings are brought to life in and through that love and as long as that is the case we are to see each other – no matter race or creed – as sisters and brothers.  All flows from this.  To create this new world, where all are seen as sisters and brothers, we need a new politics, we need a world in which violence and killing are not tolerated.  Moreover, we have to be ready and willing to heal old wounds and to find space in our communities, and in our countries, to offer forgiveness and to let go of resentments, envy and anger.

This work of building social friendship has to start early.  It needs to be built on respect for difference and an open dialogue with one another, striving to learn and understand the different positions people hold.  It involves an openness to a critique of my own position as well as a courageous and respectful challenging of views and actions that harm human beings.  For Christians, it is a life long process of conversion – changing our hearts and minds.

The Gospel this week comes from Mark, chapter 9, and it begins with one of his disciples telling Jesus that they tried to stop someone from casting out devils because he ‘was not one of us’.  Jesus answered, ‘anyone who is not against us is for us.’  Perhaps here, in this gospel we have the beginning of Jesus calling us to fratelli tutti.  It is the call and task of all of humanity to be a world of societal friendship.

The gospel goes on to tell us to rid ourselves of all that would cause us to sin – to break the bonds of our relationship of God and each other.  The text is quite confronting and cannot be taken literally.  We are not called to literally cut off our hand, our foot or our eye.  However, we are called to rid ourselves of all that leads to the deeper casting of a shadow over our globe.  And in that task anyone who is not against us is for us.

By Fr Brendan Reed

See the full text of Fratelli Tutti or if you are stuck for time here is a great summary of the encyclical in short.

Published: 27 September 2024