Throughout his pontificate Pope Francis has demonstrated a special affection for St. Francis of Assisi. When he was elected pope he took the name of Francis to remind the world of the faithful simplicity lived by Francis. 

 

But the Holy Father has also held up St. Francis as a model for the modern world in its dealings with the poor and the needy.

 

Earlier this month, Pope Francis travelled to Assisi and, in keeping with this particular devotion to St. Francis, the pope used that visit to issue an encyclical letter entitled Fratelli Tutti. Pope Francis noted that he devoted this encyclical letter to fraternity and social friendship (FT, 2).

 

Encyclical letters are some of the highest form of teaching used by the popes and directed to the whole Church. As such they merit our attention and a reading with an open heart that seeks to have our faith guided by the successor to St. Peter. 

 

With that in mind, let’s look at a pair of the many observations offered by the Holy Father in this wide-ranging document.

 

Pope Francis, early in the encyclical, expresses concern for the path that he sees the modern world taking. He identifies, for example, the growing loss of connection of the current generation with its past. 

 

He writes, “A kind of ‘deconstructionism,’ whereby human freedom claims to create everything starting from zero, is making headway in today’s culture. The one thing it leaves in its wake is the drive to limitless consumption and expressions of empty individualism” (FT, 13).

 

One of the lessons of faith and of human experience is that we never stand or exist alone. We are a part of the chain and continuum of history. That is true in the relation of each person to his or her family from which they emerge. But it is also the basis for culture that binds people together in common thought and practices.

 

That chain means that we need to acknowledge and study the experiences, the structures and the wisdom that have been acquired and accumulated before us. That acknowledgement is not acritical of course. Prior ages were as damaged and infected by sin as is our own today. Some of those experiences might have been deeply sinful, like slavery for example or the repression of religious liberty. Others, however, such as the respect for the rule of law and for the need for God to guide human existence, have rightly stood the test of time.

 

As Pope Francis notes, if we do not respect our past we are left adrift. And modern society seeks to fill that emptiness, from God and culture, with the search for the goods of this world and with a misguided sense of freedom.

 

The Holy Father also remarks about the impact that modern communication has upon us. He talks about the instant and worldwide interconnection but also the immediacy of information and opinions that keep us from reflection and, at times, from charity in our comments. 

 

He states, “As silence and careful listening disappear, replaced by a frenzy of texting, this basic structure of sage human communication is at risk. A new lifestyle is emerging where we create only what we want and exclude all that we cannot control or know instantly and superficially.”

 

Does this not correctly identify a common danger to personal interaction that is so easy to see? People addicted to their cell phones and ignoring the people around them? The use of the internet not to highlight the truth but to shape perceptions and opinions for economic or political gain?

 

These are just two of the observations found in the pope’s letter. His plea is for greater efforts to achieve the unity and fraternity that should mark us all as brothers and sisters of Christ, sharing with Him our Father in heaven.

 

Fratelli Tutti gives us much to ponder about how to live out our faith in Jesus Christ.