Pope Francis envisions ‘renewed hope’ from universal love, open to ‘every man and woman’

Gerard O’Connell, 9 October 2020
A copy of the L'Osservatore Romano newspaper announcing Pope Francis' newest encyclical Fratelli Tutti is seen in St Peter's Square in the Vatican. Image: Vatican News.

 

“I invite everyone to renewed hope” Pope Francis writes in his new encyclical letter “Fratelli Tutti,” addressed to his “brothers and sisters all” in this “wounded world” brought to its knees by the coronavirus pandemic and other crises, including poverty, racism and violence. The pope signed the encyclical letter at the tomb of St. Francis in Assisi, Italy, on Oct. 3, after celebrating Mass there.

In the encyclical letter, whose English-language version will be titled “Fratelli tutti, on Fraternity and Social Friendship,” Francis suggests ways in which we can build a more just, peaceful world, one in which we recognize each other as brothers and sisters of one human family.

He wrote “Fratelli Tutti” from a “Christian perspective,” he said, but intended it also “as an invitation to dialogue among all people.” The Pope said it does not claim “to offer a complete teaching on fraternal love, but rather to consider its universal scope, its openness to every man and woman.”

The Pope said the 90-page encyclical letter “brings together” many statements he has made during the past seven years on the theme of human fraternity and social friendship. Indeed, when one reads the encyclical, much of it seems familiar, but it has been enriched by profound new insights.

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Gerard O’Connell is America’s Vatican correspondent.

With thanks to America Magazine and Gerard O’Connell, where this article originally appeared.

 

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