Brothers (and Sisters) All

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Eight hundred years ago, St. Francis of Assisi went to Egypt where he visited Sultan Malik-al-Kamil. The journey entailed considerable hardship, given Francis’ scarce resources, the great distances to be traveled and differences of language, culture and religion.

But that journey, undertaken at the time of the Crusades, demonstrates the height and breadth of St. Francis’ love, which sought to embrace everyone. His fidelity to God resulted in his love for his brothers and sisters.

Unconcerned about the hardships and dangers, Francis went to meet the sultan with the same attitude that he instilled in his disciples: If they found themselves “among the Saracens and other nonbelievers,” without renouncing their own identity, they were not to “engage in arguments or disputes, but to be subject to every human creature for God’s sake.”

Need for Openness and Unity

This story is told at the outset of Pope Francis’ new encyclical, “Fratelli Tutti,” or “Brothers All.” The timing for such a message couldn’t be better. Like no time in my memory, the world needs openness and a sense of unity – the need to see that in the last analysis, we’re all in this together, and even to see that we’re brothers and sisters! 

Few leaders on the world stage have more consistently promoted this idea than Pope Francis. And as with world religious leaders like Archbishop Tutu, the Dalai Lama and Patriarch Bartholomew, his message should be received by all people of good will.

But surprise, surprise! Fratelli Tutti immediately provoked criticism, which demonstrates one of our current problems: We’re hyper-sensitive and quick to criticize. The pope took the name “Brothers All” from the first two words of St. Francis of Assisi’s “Admonitions,” written to his followers in the 13^th century, because it sums up the message of his encyclical.

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The criticism came particularly from the English-speaking world, where “brothers” was seen as lacking inclusiveness. Thing is, in Italian and other “Romance languages,” including Spanish, the plural noun “brothers” includes both genders, “brothers and sisters.

You could make a case that those languages should be changed, but until they are, the pope was using correct grammar and usage, and people should focus on his message.

So what is his message? I believe it can be summed up in his reference in Fratelli Tutti to his meeting last year with the Grand Imam Ahmad Al-Tayyeb in Abu Dhabi, where they issued a joint declaration that “God has created all human beings equal in rights, duties and dignity, and has called them to live together as brothers and sisters.”

But as the pope was writing this new encyclical, the world was ambushed by a deadly pandemic, which he says illustrates another problem in which humanity finds itself.

“Aside from the different ways that various countries responded to the crisis,” Francis writes, “their inability to work together became quite evident. For all our hyper-connectivity, we witnessed a fragmentation that made it more difficult to resolve problems that affect us all.

Reaffirming the Dignity of All

“…We live in a time marked by war, poverty, migration, climate change, economic crises, pandemic,” writes the pope. “Recognizing a brother or sister in everyone we meet - and for Christians, recognizing the face of Jesus in the other who suffers, (fraternity and friendship) reaffirm the irreducible dignity of every human person created in the image of God.

“They also remind us that no one can ever emerge from the present hardships alone, one against the other, the global North against the global South, the rich against the poor or any other excluding differentiation.”

 

So how do we express our friendship and solidarity?

 

“… (They) must be expressed through kind deeds, forms of assistance, works of justice and generous action in times of need – a disinterested affection towards other human beings, regardless of any difference or affiliation.”isters.”