Brothers and Sisters All

Resources for Pope Francis' Newest Encyclical

Five Key Lessons

Pope Francis asks for recognition of the dignity of each person, in order to build a more just world. In his third encyclical, “Fratelli Tutti,” meaning “Brothers and Sisters All,” the pope compiles and categorizes the main proposals of the social discourses of his pontificate, in Rome and during his trips.

Here are five keys to understanding Fratelli Tutti, brought to you by Rome Reports. You can also download the full document here.

Short Summary of Pope Francis' Social Encyclical

Fraternity and social friendship are the ways the Pontiff indicates to build a better, more just and peaceful world, with the contribution of all: people and institutions. With an emphatic confirmation of a ‘no’ to war and to globalized indifference.

Words for a Divided US Church and Country

The release of Pope Francis' latest encyclical has been greeted by a number of leading U.S. Catholics as a letter that speaks directly to a deeply polarized church and country struggling to overcome racial, economic and political divides.

An Overview of Fratelli Tutti

As with Laudato Si’, the title is an Italian quotation of the pope’s saintly namesake, translated as “brothers and sisters all.” The 287-paragraph document is a brisk walking-tour of Pope Francis’s social teaching and well worth a read.

Long Summary of Fratelli Tutti

What are the great ideals but also the tangible ways to advance for those who wish to build a more just and fraternal world in their ordinary relationships, in social life, politics and institutions? This is mainly the question that Fratelli tutti is intended to answer.

Did the Pope Change Teaching on the Death Penalty?

In his new encyclical, Pope Francis reiterated that the death penalty is “inadmissible.” Did the pope change centuries of Church teaching with that statement? A leading theologian told CNA that the pope’s teaching was a development, not a rupture with the Church’s past.

'Fratelli Tutti' is Ubuntu by any other name

"Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu." This saying exists in variant forms in Southern Africa's bantu languages and translates as, "A person is a person through other persons" or ,"I am because we are."

A Radical Blueprint for Post-Covid World

Reactions to Pope Francis’s recently released encyclical “Fratelli tutti” continue to pour in, with bishops and Catholic aid organizations praising his vision of a future based on human solidarity.

Pope Francis Does Not Propose Welfarism

Pope Francis’s latest encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, on the theme of human fraternity and a call for the world to be better after the COVID-19, was released on Sunday, and one of his ghostwriters urged Argentines not to take it personally and to read the pope in full.

What Francis Means by ‘Fratelli Tutti’

If you want to understand Pope Francis, it helps to know tango, soccer lingo, and colloquial Argentinian Spanish. Making sense of Francis, I propose, also requires an ability to think in hyperlinks. In other words, what he says opens paths to multiple references that further enrich and expand possibilities for interpretation.

The Two Prayers of Fratelli Tutti

Pope Francis concludes his third encyclical with two prayers, one a prayer that all believers can unite in, and a second prayer to be prayed by Christians. Here is the text of both.

A Dialogue on Fratelli Tutti

Hosted by Georgetown University Institute for Social Thought and Public Life, Dahlgren Dialogues, and the Office of Mission and Ministry, Georgetown University.

Speakers include:  

  • Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J., is the under-secretary of the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and has served in Canada, Latin America, Africa, and Rome.
  • Edith Avila Olea is an immigrant advocate in Chicago, Illinois and is a board member of Bread for the World. She is the former justice and peace associate director for the Catholic Diocese of Joliet, Illinois.
  • Claire Giangravé is the Vatican correspondent for Religion News Service where she covers Pope Francis and the global Catholic Church. She has worked previously at Crux, Catholic News Service, PBS, and MSNBC News.
  • Sr. Nancy Schreck, OSF, is the program director of Excel, Inc., a program center in Okolona, Mississippi. She is former president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and former president of the Sisters of St. Francis of Dubuque, Iowa.
  • Kim Daniels, associate director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life and a member of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication, will moderate the conversation. 
  • Rev. Mark Bosco, S.J., vice president of Mission and Ministry at Georgetown University, will open the dialogue with prayer from Dahlgren Chapel at Georgetown.

Recorded October 5, 2020.