Pope signs "Fratelli Tutti"

[Tolle_Lege]

The Holy Father signed his latest encyclical “Fratelli Tutti” (“All are Brothers”) in Assisi today.

As with all Pope Francis documents, there is a mix of good points and weak points. There are no major surprises, if one is already used to reading his writings. However, it is a typical Pope Francis document: while on the one hand lamenting the fact that everyone in the world seems to hate each other and can’t get along, instead of calling for an ultimate unity in Christ he instead calls upon the intangible “global leaders” or “global governance” to work together to help everyone, e.g. calling on the need for a “global governance” for how to handle migration.

There are also confusing points as usual, or passages where the Pope shines light on the naivete of the current Church hierarchy. In particular, parag. 7 of the document states how devastating Covid-19 has been on the world, but parag. 15 begins with “The best way to dominate and gain control over people is to spread despair and discouragement.” Obviously the overreaching government actions in the name of Covid do not even register as a form of dominance or control to him.

Other unnecessary or harmful points include: he ponders aloud why the Church took so long to condemn slavery; he doubles down on the “inadmissibility” of the death penalty; and extremely heavy-handed calls for “globalization,” “an open world,” and recurring mentions of Covid as some kind of unprecedented human tragedy. Again, in short, Francis points to governments, rather than Christ, as the solution to the world’s problems. Indeed, he does express hope for unity through belief, but it comes across more so as a generic belief in a higher power, not the God of the Christian faith.

Also, aside from a couple of quotes from Sts. Augustine and Francis, the vast majority of his citations are from the 20th century, with a heavy emphasis on post-V2 documents and a large number of circular references to previous Pope Francis documents.

There are a few decent points, such as the condemnation of abortion and euthanasia, the horrors of human trafficking, the over-reliance on “the market” as some invisible force that will solve every problem, the misapplication of the Just War Theory to legitimize every act of belligerent aggression, and the need to follow the way of the Good Samaritan. However, none of these are new revelations, and are just standard Catholic fare.

 

[Tolle_Lege]

(part 2)

Ultimately, I am not sure what the purpose of the document is other than a vehicle for the Pope to set down his thoughts on how he believes the “common good” should be achieved. I like to give him the benefit of the doubt when possible, but this document, while not really revealing any new thoughts of his, seems to be a massive lost opportunity. Here could have been the one time, amidst the “pandemic” and “unrest” in many places, where Francis could have called for true unity through Christ and the Church. Instead, he hands off the responsibility of salvation to government structures. In this regard, the document falls very short, in my opinion.

Will this encyclical result in any new teachings or any new ways of doing things? I’m not sure, but probably not. It just seems to be a cobbled together collection of Francis’s last 7 1/2 years of interviews about how everyone can just get along if governments can unite into a single entity. It’s kind of just a “best of Pope Francis’s thoughts on getting along through government” codified in a single work.

The CNA article: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/…ical-19783

Fratelli Tutti full text: http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/…tutti.html

 

[pnewton]

This should be posted at the top of every CAF page:

Dialogue is often confused with something quite different: the feverish exchange of opinions on social networks, frequently based on media information that is not always reliable. These exchanges are merely parallel monologues.

Come, Holy Spirit, show us your beauty,
reflected in all the peoples of the earth,
so that we may discover anew
that all are important and all are necessary,
different faces of the one humanity
that God so loves. Amen.

I remember when I was young and thought I was in love, how much I eagerly enjoyed receiving a letter in the mail from my long-distance girl friend. Today, I am equally eager to read this letter over again. An hour’s perusal was just skimming. I believe I will make this the family meditation and devotion this year, in honor of St. Francis, and his namesake Pope. What a great encyclical. It reinforces what I believe God has done with our last three popes, reflecting the theological virtue Faith (Benedict), Hope (John Paul), and Love (Frances).

 

[DaveBj]

The Holy Father signed . . .

Thanks for the overview and the links. Normally I avoid documents like this, because they are mind-numbingly dull, but I do plan to read this one.

D

 

[Genesis315]

cites Martin Luther as a source of inspiration

Just a quick correction–it was Martin Luther King that was cited.

But yeah, it’s a massive, wordy text like we’ve come to expect. I skimmed it and the footnotes (is this the first time a Pope has cited a documentary film about himself?) and as you note it’s nothing that hasn’t been said before by Pope Francis (much of it on the points where he is at his best)–and the citations seem more self-referential than usual. The only thing that really jumped out at me was the interesting attempt to tie the death penalty stuff to stuff about war being outdated (St. John XXIII is cited on that point with regard to war, but Pius XII said the same thing for what it’s worth). I think this could be a valid analogy (I’ve offered it myself quoting Pius XII on these boards), but the way it’s done here is not the clearest and I can foresee some commentators seeing it as an adoption of principled absolute pacificism.

Speaking of Pius XII, his first encyclical Summi Pontificatus–which I’m shocked was not referenced once–is a much more concise and Christ-centered and salvation-centered take on this topic if someone is looking for more of an approach like that. It’s too bad the Holy Father did not reference this principle (my emphasis):

One thing Pope Francis always does clearly and explicitly is lay out his “his manifest mind and will” (cf. Lumen Gentium 25) as to how his letter should be received. Here is what he says on this one:

1. The following pages do not claim to offer a complete teaching on fraternal love, but rather to consider its universal scope, its openness to every man and woman. 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 that will not remain at the level of words. 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.

In other words, like many of his texts, this is offered for reflection and dialogue, not as anything definitive that requires unqualified, uniform adherence or submission.

I think overall, I would sum up the general theme for an average Christian in the words of St. Robert Bellarmine, from his “The Seven Words on the Cross”: “This is the effect of true charity, to be on good terms with all men, to consider no one your enemy, and to live at peace with those who hate peace.”

 

[Bithynian]

In all honesty, Fratelli Tutti was overshadowed - for me, at least - by the unexpected publication last week of the delightful apostolic letter from Pope Francis, Scripturae Sacrae Affectus, for the 1600th anniversary of St Jerome.

 

[Genesis315]

In all honesty, Fratelli Tutti was overshadowed - for me, at least - by the unexpected publication last week of the delightful apostolic letter from Pope Francis, Scripturae Saecrae Affectus , for the 1600th anniversary of St Jerome.

Yes, that one was excellent. It reminded me of the very short letter he wrote for the 450th anniversary of the Council of Trent. I wonder who the contributing author was for the St. Jerome letter since it seems like a very different voice than the more high profile Francis texts–to me the couple noticeable Francis-isms that are included are almost jarring (not saying they are bad, just noticeable).

 

[Genesis315]

Just to add with regard to his (no doubt rhetorical) pondering of the Church’s approach to slavery over time, I would recommend the following two articles of the 1909 Catholic Encyclopedia. I think they give a good history and explanation of the “why” things developed as they did in the timing they did.

https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14039a.htm

https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14036a.htm

 

[christofirst]

I just skimmed through the new encyclical on my phone, which is not my preferred way to read anything of length, and I can’t wait to get my hands on a hard copy.

So far, it covers everything I most appreciate about the pontificate of Francis, his vision for the Church and the world.

 

[pnewton]

In other words, like many of his texts, this is offered for reflection and dialogue, not as anything definitive that requires unqualified, uniform adherence or submission.

It is a papal encyclical. Because the object is to encourage dialogue and serve for further conversation in no way effects its doctrinal nature. That point is simply not one made or implied in this wording. It is still as much doctrinal in nature, when it proclaims a thing to be true. I have no doubt I will use this document in the future at CAF. It is loaded with nuggets of church teaching. I hope Catholics here will show the Holy Father the respect due his teaching office.

Adherence and submission are still qualified, of course, as is other doctrine based on the primacy of conscience, and assuming one is trying to keep conscience informed.

 

[christofirst]

People who disagree with the Pope are looking, it seems, for something like additions to the Ten Commandments.

Thou shalt not have recourse to the death penalty. Thou shalt not wage a war of aggression and call it a just war. Thou shalt not turn away immigrants. Thou shalt not place private property over the universal destination of goods.

Without such absolutes, some say we can simply disregard these pleas and admonitions. This is the wrong way to see it, in my opinion, but people who don’t want to change will always look for a way out.

 

[Genesis315]

I hope Catholics here will show the Holy Father the respect due his teaching office.

To be fair, part of that is respecting his stated intentions. He specifically wants it to be treated as “a modest contribution for reflection” and certainly we all should reflect on it as such.

 

[SantaFe]

Ok I can’t possibly be the only one who immediately read Pope signs “TUTTI FRUTTI”

 

[Genesis315]

Thou shalt not have recourse to the death penalty. Thou shalt not wage a war of aggression and call it a just war. Thou shalt not turn away immigrants. Thou shalt not place private property over the universal destination of goods.

I don’t think anyone is looking for these. God forbid. For example, the second and fourth of your examples are such “absolutes.” But the other two are contingent (for example, there can be reasons why a particular country could justly turn away a particular potential immigrant in particular circumstances, while it would be unjust for another country to turn away another potential immigrant in different circumstances, while still maintaining in both concrete cases the general principle favoring the right to immigrate within the bounds of the common good founded on the universal destination of goods). That is why the Holy Father, by addressing all sorts of such things is not intending to make such definitive judgments, but rather, as he says “offer a contribution” to how we consider such things in our concrete circumstances.

Pope Francis is very much focused on such here-and-now considerations. Notice how this new encyclical, while briefly referencing our common origin in God, does not at all address our common redemption through Christ or the common destiny of beatitude we are all called to and which is an important basis of the unity of the human family. Again, Pope Francis specifically says he is not intending to provide a universal doctrine on the human family (which would certainly have included this), but rather only look at certain questions related to our temporal circumstances in light of certain aspects of that doctrine (which certainly bear on our eternal destinies, but that bearing is not addressed or referenced by the Pope here). No Pope is omniscient–they can err in fact. Pope Francis clearly in his humility acknowledges this, which is why he choses to go no further than offering his modest contribution for our reflection. We should certainly give it the due consideration he wishes.

 

[christofirst]

You almost make it sound like a throw-away encyclical . It sounds like you’re saying: Consider his words, yes, but we really don’t have to take them to heart or make any real changes because of them. I find that discouraging, if I’m reading you right.

 

[pnewton]

That was not what was said.

Pope Francis has had time to reflect on how lack of brotherly love in the world is manifesting itself in ways we must address. All of what he said is rooted in the tradition of the Church, but some has a different look. Yes, we should listen to our teacher, but we also need to acknowledge some of what he is saying is moving us forward in love of neighbor in a changing world. Expect a little inertia.

I am sympathetic, having taken a decade to understand St. John Paul’s teaching on capital punishment, as well the Church’s teaching on divorce and remarriage, which I still struggle with, though the latter does not affect me.

 

[Maximian]

I thought exactly the same but that would mean “Everyone’s a fruit” which is obviously totally inappropriate for a Vatican document.

 

[ioannes_pius]

I hope it contains another critique of capitalism/usury and the technocratic paradigm.

 

[Tolle_Lege]

Just a quick correction–it was Martin Luther King that was cited.

Thanks for the correction.

 

[Tolle_Lege]

It just seems like a lost opportunity; for the first time in a very long time, the world has a “common enemy” in Covid (whether or not you agree or disagree with the severity of it). This would have been a perfect document to frame Christ and specifically the Catholic Church as the common hope for humanity, but instead there is just a vague acknowledgment that everyone has to “come together;” if not in Christ, then in what? That is where the document seems to fall short.

The ecumenical religious portions of the document are not anything specifically Catholic; they could just as well have been written from the point of another denomination.

His comments about life prison sentences also seems misplaced. In my opinion, comments like these reveal the Pope to hold many social Marxist leanings. Regarding prisoners, Francis sees their plight through the lens of Marxism; that is, due to class warfare within societies, many people are severely oppressed by an upper class. They are not given a fair chance to succeed, and thus, are left with no other option than crime and violence to survive in that society. Therefore, according to Francis, the very society that drove these people to commit crimes in the first place has no right to keep them in prison for life, or to execute them. Francis sees impoverished people, migrants, etc. as kinds of untouchable groups who are not beholden to the Commandments like people from wealthier areas. It seems that they are excused from wrongdoing because it was someone else’s fault that they sinned. Completely corrupt countries who have evil rulers are never p(name removed by moderator)ointed by Francis as the cause of so many people leaving those countries and trying to escape to another by any means possible, including illegal immigration. He just goes along with the nebulous far-left secular narrative that somehow the wealthy West is to blame for the failure of these countries. So once again, since according to him the West is the cause of these dysfunctional places, they have no right to complain when migrants try entering their countries illegally. Please note, I am not implying that the Pope is a socialist or agrees with Marxism; I’m just using the term “social Marxism” to mean a view that some type of oppression is usually / always the cause of someone else’s actions.

There were certainly some good points in the document, but nothing new. I’m sure if someone combed through all of his previous statements about human fraternity over the years, they can find just about everything in this document.