In recent days Pope Francis has signed in Assisi, on the tomb of Saint Francis, the new encyclical letter "Brothers all. On fraternity and social friendship".
It is a text of particular relevance that comes to fall in full "of the unexpected Covid 19 pandemic that has exposed our false securities" and it is published at the same time that the Church seems to be at the center of a blizzard of complexity, concern and disquiet, composed on the one hand by recurring earthly scandals and, on the other hand, by dogmatic doubts.
In recent days in the national press (in particular on Republic of 5 October with a long form signed by Ezio Mauro followed on the pages of Courier of 6 October with Aldo Cazzullo's interview with Cardinal Camillo Ruini) important articles were published which gave ample response.
Significant to observe the simultaneity of some communicative phenomena. At a time when Pope Francis directly addresses issues of great topicality and relevance with more or less acceptable propositions, at the same time there is a great deal of media drumming which, directly or indirectly, leads to distract attention. To have proof of this, it would be enough to "weigh" how much space the publication of Bergoglio's document received in the national press. Certainly not adequate to the importance of the contents that are proposed.
The Encyclical speaks of society, of economy, of relationshipsi between individuals, between people in a context of bewilderment and global uncertainty. It proposes daring and complicated formulas and paths which, starting from the overcoming of the “… virus of radical individualism…”, wants to define a new ethics of international relations, deny the culture of walls and propose a revision of the UN treaties.
Right from the very first lines of the document, the Pope touches the raw nerves of contemporary civilization: absolute faith in science and the myth of the hyper-connection that the Internet would like to guarantee. These themes appear as two "hidden truths" where the first, precisely in these dramatic circumstances, falters under the blows of the fragmentation of research and the uniqueness of address, while the second clouds the social relationships created through the Net and not through gestures and the direct and participatory rites that have always characterized the history of humanity: "There is a need for physical gestures, facial expressions, silences, body language, and even perfume, hand trembling, blushing, sweat, because all of this speaks and is part of human communication”. We have also written about these topics on FIRST Art where in addition to the hands we also dealt with hugs and kisses.
Bergoglio was trained at the Jesuit school and knows perfectly the complex mechanisms of grammar and the syntax of communication: he is a shepherd "with the smell of sheep" able to speak not only with his flock.
The new encyclical, in addition to the doctrinal aspects that we will not touch upon, is in fact placed at the center of a vast debate that affects Western society as a whole, its founding values, its functioning mechanisms in the global dimension that they have assumed. The Letter that the Pope wrote appears in many respects as a document of secular communication, and perhaps even a political one, addressed not so much and not only to the Christian faithful.
Fratelli tutti already highlights in the subtitle “On fraternity and social friendship” where and to whom it intends to address. First of all to all those who are outside the Vatican Curia, in physical and relational terms. It is no coincidence that, even symbolically, the signing of the encyclical takes place in Assisi, far from Rome and without the participation of the faithful. Communication through signs thus takes on more depth and can be more relevant than the use of the word. The images speak for themselves and we all remember Bergoglio's prayer in St. Peter's Square last March 20, in the midst of the pandemic, in the rain, where he said just one simple sentence: "We realized we were in the same boat , all fragile and disoriented, but at the same time important and necessary, all called to row together".
Then he turns to politics, to those who govern public affairs and regulate private interests and pay particular attention to them. And it is exactly in this area that Bergoglio's communication encounters obstacles and resistance (see Chapter V The best policy). In fact, the religious as well as ideological root from which all the literature of a certain political area draws, not only in Italy, is known. The words of Pope Francis on hospitality and fraternity they sound like heresies to the ears of those who have made a fortune on the very opposite. Just as the invocations a sound problematic to say the least forms of economy that respect the rights and dignity of work. Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Community of Sant'Egidio, wrote that this Encyclical highlights a "third way" that the Pope proposes, between liberalism and populism.
Undoubtedly the Pontiff poses serious emphasis on the dimensions and dynamics of the globalized economy which does not see adequate and sufficient regulations to deal with and guarantee better balances between the different areas of the world: “There are economic rules that have proved to be effective for growth, but not as effective for integral human development. Wealth has increased, but without equity, and so what happens is that new poverties are born.” He then adds: “The world moved relentlessly towards an economy which, using technological advances, sought to reduce “human costs”, and someone pretended to make us believe that the freedom of the market was enough for everything to be considered safe. But the hard and unexpected blow of this out-of-control pandemic has forced us to think of human beings, of everyone, rather than the benefit of some".
One may or may not agree with the contents of the Encyclical, but there is enough of it to devote particular attention to reading Fratelli Tutti.
