On Oct. 3, we passed the fifth anniversary of the issuance of the Encyclical Letter of Pope Francis entitled Fratelli Tutti (All Brothers). The subtitle specified that the late Holy Father’s writing was “On Fraternity and Social Friendship.”
On Oct. 1, Archbishop Timothy Broglio issued a Pastoral Invitation for Reflection and a related video to commemorate that papal teaching and apply it to the worrisome social situation in our own beloved country. Archbishop Broglio’s comments are worth attention and reflection.
The archbishop begins with a gripping question: “What happens to a nation when violence no longer shocks us?” A review of recent years shows us that this question, which previously would have been unnecessary, and so unthinkable, now is describing an increasing dimension of life in our society.
Consider this list: On July 13, 2024, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump was wounded and a spectator killed in a shooting at an open-air rally in Pennsylvania. On Dec. 4, 2024, the unarmed CEO of United Health Care was shot dead on a New York street. In Washington D.C. on May 21 of this year, two members of the Israeli Embassy staff were killed in Washington D.C. On June 14, two Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota were violently killed in their own home. On Aug. 27 of this year, two school children were killed and 20 others wounded while attending a grade school Mass at Assumption Parish in Minneapolis. And on Sept. 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk was murdered in Utah while sitting in a public setting in dialogue with college students, while on that same day a student opened fire at a Colorado high school, critically wounding two peers. Sadly the list of violence goes on.
Archbishop Broglio commented in his statement, “Places once regarded as safe harbors to grow and learn — our schools, universities, and churches — have become sites of heartbreaking tragedy and bloodshed. … We have seen the manifestation of … the perverse idea that one can serve the common good by becoming an instrument of violence.” In short, we are witnessing a resort to violence and a tolerance of it in our culture that we have never known previously.
And don’t we recognize that violence, often involving guns and at times forms of mental illness, has a wider context? We are exposed to constant rhetoric in public and in political forums, coming from all sides, that degrades the dignity of others. The result is an inability to address and deal with disagreements and conflict in a peaceful and charitable manner. As Archbishop Broglio commented, “This happens when we refuse to see the face of Christ in the other person and only see an enemy that must be dominated or destroyed.”
In Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis called the world “to place at the center of all political, social and economic activity the human person, who enjoys the highest dignity, and respect for the common good.”
For us as followers of Jesus Christ, this gets to the heart of our obligation to seek peace and overcome violence. We must see Jesus in every human person. That means the way that we speak to them and about them must reflect that element of charity and respect for their dignity.
As Archbishop Broglio stated, “I beg you to see Christ in every person, even those whose politics you oppose.” And he continued, “Pray for your enemies. Listen and talk with those with whom you disagree — especially within your own family.”
We are the salt of the earth. We are the light of the world. We are the yeast that leavens the dough of our society. Our unwavering witness to the truth but also to the dignity of those with whom with disagree is desperately needed in our nation which seems to be increasingly not only not shocked, but even tolerant of violence.
