Fratelli Tutti

Background and Occasion

Francis signed Fratelli Tutti at the tomb of St Francis of Assisi on 3 October 2020, the eve of the saint’s feast, and it was published the next day. Its title comes from the Admonitions of St Francis, who addressed his brothers and sisters with these words. The Pope recalls in particular Francis’s visit to Sultan Malik al-Kamil in Egypt during the Fifth Crusade, as an example of a love that crosses barriers.

The encyclical grew from the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together, which Francis signed with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad al-Tayyeb, in Abu Dhabi in February 2019. It was completed during the COVID-19 pandemic, which, the Pope says, exposed the false securities of a world that had thought itself self-sufficient. It is his third encyclical, after Lumen Fidei and Laudato Si’.

Structure

The encyclical has eight chapters: Dark clouds over a closed world; A stranger on the road; Envisaging and engendering an open world; A heart open to the whole world; A better kind of politics; Dialogue and friendship in society; Paths of renewed encounter; and Religions at the service of fraternity in our world. It ends with two prayers.

Central Teaching

A closed world

The first chapter describes the forces that work against fraternity: dreams of integration that have been shattered, a globalisation that makes us neighbours but not brothers, a throwaway culture that discards the unborn, the elderly and the poor, the lack of a shared project, the manipulation of history, aggressive social media, and the treatment of migrants.

The Good Samaritan

The second chapter, the theological centre, is a meditation on the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37). Each of us, the Pope says, must decide which character we are: the one who passes by, the robber, the wounded man, or the one who stops. The parable shows that the question is not who my neighbour is, but whether I will make myself a neighbour to whoever needs me. Love breaks the chains that keep us isolated.

An open world

The third and fourth chapters develop the principle of universal fraternity. Love has a universal dimension that cannot be restricted to one’s own group. The encyclical restates the universal destination of goods and teaches that the right to private property is a secondary natural right, derived from the principle that created goods are meant for all. The fourth chapter applies this to migrants, to be welcomed, protected, promoted and integrated, while recognising the right of states to regulate migration and the right of people not to have to emigrate.

A better kind of politics

The fifth chapter criticises both populism, which exploits the people for personal power, and a liberalism that serves only economic interests. It calls for a politics directed to the common good and to the poorest, and it speaks of political charity: love expressed in social and political action is one of the highest forms of charity. It renews the call for reform of the United Nations and of international finance.

Dialogue and social friendship

The sixth chapter calls for dialogue, which is not mere negotiation but the search for truth together. It rejects relativism: there are values that are permanent because they are grounded in human nature, and consensus does not create them. It also commends kindness as a quality that transforms society.

Paths of renewed encounter

The seventh chapter treats forgiveness, reconciliation and memory. Forgiveness does not mean forgetting injustice or renouncing justice; it means refusing the destructive power of revenge. The Pope recalls the Shoah, Hiroshima and Nagasaki as memories that must not be lost.

Two passages have attracted particular attention. On war, the encyclical notes that the Catechism speaks of legitimate defence by military force, but argues that the criteria of the just war have often been interpreted too broadly, and that today it is very difficult to invoke rational criteria to speak of a possible just war; the slogan must be “never again war”. On the death penalty, it confirms the teaching that it is inadmissible (CCC 2267, as revised in 2018), and adds that life imprisonment raises serious concerns of its own.

Religions and fraternity

The final chapter teaches that religions, when they are true to themselves, serve fraternity, and that violence in the name of God has no foundation in religious convictions but only in their distortions. For Christians, the Pope says, the source of human dignity and fraternity is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The encyclical reprints its appeal with the Grand Imam and ends by recalling St Charles de Foucauld, who wanted to be a universal brother.

Theological Significance

Fratelli Tutti gathers the themes of Francis’s social teaching into one document, much as Laudato Si’ did for creation. Its theology of fraternity rests on the doctrine of creation, all people being children of one Father, and on the Gospel command of love, made concrete in the Samaritan. It extends Catholic teaching on the universal destination of goods and on political charity, both of which have deep roots in the tradition.

Its statements on war and on life imprisonment are among the more debated passages of recent magisterial teaching. Its teaching on the death penalty restates the 2018 revision of the Catechism, which the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith presented as a development of doctrine in continuity with earlier teaching. Leo XIV’s Magnifica Humanitas (2026) continues its reflection on war and the culture of power.

For readers of this site, the encyclical belongs with the moral theology tract, with Pacem in Terris on peace and the international order, and with Nostra Aetate on the Church’s relations with other religions.