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A lone Pope donates the “Urbi et Orbi” blessing in the rain in the deserted St. Peter’s Square: During the Corona shutdown in Italy in March, this was a powerful image of the uniqueness of the crisis. Pope Francis has now poured out some reflections on this period in a 150-page document: “Fratelli Tutti – On fraternity and social friendship”, the third encyclical of his pontificate.
In the face of the pandemic, the Pope asks for nothing more than a new social order: one that puts people and their inalienable dignity at the center of all political and economic action. Corona showed people “to be a world community on a ship where the wickedness of one inmate is detrimental to all,” he writes in the papal letter of principles published this Sunday. The pandemic is forcing humanity to think again of all people rather than the benefits of some. And Francis expresses the hope that the pandemic is not another important event in history from which humanity learns nothing. “Let us not forget the elderly who died because there were no ventilators, in part due to the dismantling of health systems from year to year.” Otherwise, “For himself who can” will quickly turn into “all against all” and that will be worse than a pandemic.
To sign the encyclical, Francis made a special trip to Assisi on Saturday, to the tomb of Saint Francis of Assisi. In his latest encyclical, the “Laudato Si” published five years ago, Francis made direct reference to texts by his namesake. At that time, the focus was on protecting the environment and climate and on “caring for the common home.”
In his encyclical now presented, Francis deals with the climate among people. Although he has been working on the text for some time, the corona pandemic has given it a new urgency: “Sections of humanity seem to be able to be sacrificed for the benefit of a preferred population group that considers themselves worthy of leading lives without restrictions,” he writes Francis. And it sheds light on the particularly endangered elderly who were “brutally thrown” into this crisis, placed in isolation and “without proper and sincere family support.”
Following the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan, who, of all things, helped a wounded man along the way as a foreign disbeliever, while the pious and fellow countrymen passed by, the Pope then rejects his vision of charity that doesn’t matter. Francis interprets the parable not only in terms of individual ethics, but also politically: charity must become a principle of politics. Francis also repeatedly refers to his meeting with Grand Imam Ahmad Al-Tayyib in February 2019 in Abu Dhabi. At that time, both had signed an interreligious declaration on the “brotherhood of all peoples”: According to Francis, a path of peace was possible between religions. “God’s love is the same for everyone, regardless of their religion.”
In this sense, Francis also strongly opposes the marginalization of refugees and nationalism: “It is considered that migrants are not worthy enough to participate in social life like everyone else and it is forgotten that they have the same inherent dignity to all human beings. It is unacceptable that Christians share this mentality. “Francis criticizes nationalism, isolation and” social aggressiveness that finds space on the Internet “https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/” What nobody I could say until a few years ago without the Endangering the respect of the whole world for him, that today he can be uttered with all rudeness even by politicians without being prosecuted. “
The president of the German Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing, called the encyclical a “wake-up call, warning and hope.” Freiburg theology professor Ursula Nothelle-Wildfeuer said Francis was breaking “the silence of the Catholic Church, which was often criticized in the Corona crisis, in an impressive way.” Christian Weisner of the reform movement “We are Church” also wants a change of perspective in the teaching of the Church: “The question of sustainable development of humanity depends largely on women. Therefore, the role of women and the reform problems of our church remain pertinent. “
