Fratelli Tutti: Encyclical letter on Fraternity and Social Friendship

Pope Francis dedicates his third encyclical, FRATELLI TUTTI to his namesake, Francis of Assisi, at whose tomb he celebrated Mass on 3^rd October, 2020, a day before its publication date which is the feast of St. Francis. The 287-paragraph document on “fraternity and social friendship” is a brisk walking-tour of Pope Francis’s social teaching.

The encyclical articulates in eight chapters a call for all human persons to recognize and live out our common fraternity. It starts with a consideration of what is holding humanity back from the development of universal fraternity and moves to an expression of hope that peace and unity will be achieved through dialogue among peoples of faith. Fraternity is to be encouraged not only in words, but in deeds. Deeds made tangible in a “better kind of politics”, which is not subordinated to financial interests, but to serving the common good, able to place the dignity of every human being at the centre and assure work to everyone, so that each one can develop his or her own abilities.