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On October 4, the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis issued his latest encyclical, Fratelli tutti (On Fraternity and Social Friendship). This is more than just another Church document. It is Pope Francis’s “cry from the heart” to all people of the earth to see beyond their differences—indeed to work with their differences—and begin to grow together to build a new and peaceful world.
Using the Parable of the Good Samaritan as a model, the Pope lays out concrete ways to begin this process: listening to one another, caring for one another, reaching out beyond our own culture, and being willing to engage in honest and open dialogue. To achieve all this, we need to be like the Good Samaritan—acting as a loving neighbor, leaving behind our self-imposed border walls (prejudice, judgmentalism), and taking the risk to encounter others as they are.
Returning again and again to themes he has developed throughout his papacy, Pope Francis speaks of the need for equality and justice for all, cooperation, caring for the most vulnerable, doing the hard work of learning to listen to and accompany others, and caring for the earth that nurtures and sustains us all.
The Pope ends his letter to the world with this prayer to the Holy Spirit:
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.
Image credit: Corinne SIMON/CIRIC