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ROME – Pope Francis says that the coronavirus pandemic has shown that the “magic theories” of market capitalism have failed and that the world needs a new kind of politics that promotes dialogue and solidarity and rejects war at all costs.
Francis on Sunday laid out his vision for a post-Covid world by uniting the core elements of his social teachings in a new encyclical aimed at inspiring a revitalized sense of the human family. “Fratelli Tutti” (All Brothers) was released on the feast day of his namesake, the peaceful Saint Francis of Assisi.
The document draws on the teachings of St. Francis and the Pope’s earlier preaching on the injustices of the global economy and its destruction of the planet and unites them with his call for greater human solidarity to confront the “dark clouds in a closed world. “
In the encyclical, Francis even rejected the Catholic Church’s own doctrine that justifies war as a means of self-defense, saying that it had been applied too broadly over the centuries and was no longer viable.
“It is very difficult today to invoke the rational criteria elaborated in previous centuries to speak of the possibility of a ‘just war’,” Francis wrote in the most controversial new element of the encyclical.
Francis had begun writing the encyclical, the third of his pontificate, before the coronavirus hit, and his grim diagnosis of a crumbling human family goes far beyond the problems posed by the outbreak. However, he said that the pandemic had confirmed his belief that current political and economic institutions must be reformed to address the legitimate needs of those hardest hit by the coronavirus.
“Aside from the different ways in which various countries responded to the crisis, their inability to work together became quite apparent,” Francis wrote. “Anyone who thinks that the only lesson to be learned was the need to improve what we were already doing, or to refine existing systems and regulations, is denying reality.”
He cited the serious loss of millions of jobs as a result of the virus as evidence of the need for politicians to listen to popular movements, trade unions and marginalized groups and design fairer social and economic policies.
“The fragility of world systems in the face of the pandemic has shown that not everything can be solved with free markets,” he wrote. “It is imperative to have a proactive economic policy aimed at ‘promoting an economy that favors productive diversity and business creativity’ and enables the creation and not the reduction of jobs.”
He denounced populist policies that seek to demonize and isolate, and called for a “culture of encounter” that promotes dialogue, solidarity and a sincere effort to work for the common good.
As a consequence, Francis rejected the concept of an absolute right to property for individuals, emphasizing instead the “social purpose” and the common good that must come from sharing the Earth’s resources. He reiterated his criticism of the “wicked” global economic system, which he said constantly keeps the poor on the sidelines while enriching the few, an argument he further elaborated in his landmark 2015 environmental encyclical “Laudato Sii” (Praise Be).
Francis also rejected the “trickle-down” economic theory, as he did in his papacy’s first major mission statement, the 2013 Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), saying that it simply does not achieve what it claims.
“Neoliberalism simply reproduces itself by resorting to magical ‘spill’ or ‘trickle’ theories, without using the name, as the only solution to social problems,” he wrote. “There is little appreciation for the fact that the supposed ‘spill’ does not resolve the inequality that gives rise to new forms of violence that threaten the fabric of society.”
Francis’ English-speaking biographer Austen Ivereigh said that with its two key predecessors, the new encyclical amounts to the final part of a triptych of papal teachings and could well be the last of the pontificate.
“There is little doubt that these three documents … will be considered the backbone of the Francis-era teaching,” Ivereigh wrote in Commonweal magazine.
Francis made it clear that the text had a wide circulation, printed the encyclical in the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano and distributed it for free in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday to mark the resumption of print editions after a pause during the closing. of Covid-19.
Much of the new encyclical repeats Francis’ well-known preaching on the need to welcome and value migrants and his rejection of the nationalist and isolationist policies of many of today’s political leaders.
He devoted an entire chapter to the parable of the Good Samaritan, saying that his lesson in charity, kindness and caring for strangers was “the basic decision we must make to rebuild our wounded world.”
“That such an old topic is being talked about with such urgency now is because Pope Francis fears a detachment from the vision that we are all truly responsible for all, all related to all, all entitled to a fair share of what has been given. for the good of all, ”said Anna Rowlands, professor of Catholic social thought at the British University of Durham, who was present to present the encyclical Sunday at the Vatican.
Francis enshrined in the encyclical his earlier rejection of both the nuclear arms race and the death penalty, which he said was “inadmissible” in all cases.
Francis’s call for greater “human brotherhood,” in particular to promote peace, stems from his 2019 joint appeal with the great Imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the revered 1,000-year-old seat of Sunni Islam. His document “Human Fraternity” established the relationship between Catholics and Muslims as brothers, with a common mission of promoting peace.
The fact that he has now integrated that Catholic-Muslim document into an encyclical is significant, given that conservative critics of Francis had already criticized the document “Human Fraternity” as heretical, since it affirmed that God had wanted the “pluralism and diversity of religions “. “
The Vatican encyclicals are the most authoritative form of papal teaching and traditionally take their titles from the first two words of the document. In this case, “Fratelli Tutti” is a quote from the “Admonitions”, the guidelines written by Saint Francis in the 13th century.
The encyclical’s title had sparked controversy in the English-speaking world, with critics pointing out that a direct translation of the word “fratelli” (brothers) excludes women. The Vatican has insisted that the plural form of the word “fratelli” includes gender.
Francis’ decision to sign the document in Assisi, where he traveled on Saturday, and publish it on the feast day of the saint is further proof of the enormous influence that Saint Francis has had on the papacy of the Jesuit Pope.
Francis is the first pope to be named after the mendicant friar, who gave up a rich and dissolute lifestyle to embrace a life of poverty and service to the poor.
