Contemporary interpretations of Catholic Social Teaching (CST) have engaged with political narratives of belonging and place. Often this has given a communitarian and nationalist bias to considerations of social justice and political economy. Fratelli Tutti provides a useful corrective to this with its vision of a world beyond borders, and a better kind of politics.
In Fratelli Tutti Pope Francis recognises the universal aspiration for us all to live together as sisters and brothers based on God’s creation of all human beings as equal in rights, duties and dignities. This is contrasted with the rise of a nationalism “myopic, extremist, resentful and aggressive”. This form of regressive nationalism is described a “chorus of selfishness” in the guise of defending national interests (no. 11).
This speaks to us in the UK and points out some pitfalls to avoid. The aspiration for social friendship cuts through the unhelpful framing of our current political situation as the product of inevitable tensions between the local and the global, Leavers and Remainers, the ‘somewheres’ and the ‘anywheres’. At a time when the UK contribution to international development has been slashed, both in real terms and as a proportion of our national wealth creation, it is also a reminder of our wider ethical responsibilities.
Against a closed society – no walls in the heart
The call in Fratelli Tutti is to a love capable of transcending borders (no. 99). The bias towards a reactionary nationalist politics of belonging which has loomed large in our political discourse has compromised the commitment to the human rights of migrant as refugees, asylum seekers and workers in recent years. The dignity of migrants is a key theme in Fratelli Tutti with its interpretation of the parable of the Good Samaritan. But this call to social friendship is for those who are near to us too.
Invoking the spirit of St Francis at the very beginning of the Encyclical, social solidarity is explained as a blessedness of loving those who are near to us and those who are far away (no. 1). This includes those who are abandoned or ignored by the society they live in, made ‘foreign’ in their own country whether through racism (no. 97) or being old or disabled (no. 98).
Fratelli Tutti calls for universal values, against insular forms of communitarianism
This assertion of universal values across national borders and in the divisions within society speaks to us in the UK at a time when, following Brexit and the 2019 ‘Red Wall’ General Election, we are now faced with the economic downturn of a post Pandemic political landscape. The insecurity and fears of those who feel abandoned by the system is real but in response we are told to avoid allowing any “false communitarian mystique” to flourish (no. 28). For in creating walls to keep out the unknown at home or abroad, ‘my world’ becomes all, and we fail to encounter the other in different cultures and peoples (no. 27).
Elements of CST have (rightly) been used to critique the growing economic inequality of the (anywhere) globalised neo-liberal economic order but less so the self-interest of (somewhere) nations, regions or local communities. Fratelli Tutti helps to restore this balance. It criticises communal norms that compromise our receptiveness to others whilst reminding us that ‘false’ universalism exists and such authoritarian or abstract universalism is often an excuse for exploitation (no. 100).
A new politics based on universal love
In contrast to a closed post-liberal ethics of competing communal identities, the vision of charity in Fratelli Tutti is of an openness of love that is “existential rather than geographic”, existing within differentiated communities as well as across borders (no. 97). To be local in a healthy rather than a narcissistic way, it says, we have to be “sincerely open to the universal”, for “a culture without universal values is not truly a culture” (no. 146).
The emphasis in much recent political theology on matters of identity and belonging has come at the expense of a focus on wider socio-economic and environmental matters and an internationalist perspective, though these are an important part of the CST tradition.
Fratelli Tutti invites us to a view of community that goes beyond competing local groups (image by LA(Phot) Simmo Simpson/MOD: wikimedia)
As identified in Laudato Si and Frattelli Tutti, it is clear that some of the most immediate political challenges of the early 21st century require co-ordination and international agreement, including climate change, supporting biodiversity and environmental sustainability, reigning in destructive economic libertarianism and corporate greed, and recognising the rights of refugees and migrants and the dignity of the poorest people on our planet.
Fratelli Tutti hopes for new open political thinking after the shock of the Coronavius pandemic so we will think no longer in terms of “them” or “those” but only “us” (no. 35). That, post-pandemic, massive public investment in socio-economic reconstruction will be necessary to avoid both the devastating effects of mass unemployment and cuts to social protections only makes this open political perspective more pressing.
Subsidiarity and healthy localism
There has been a tendency by some post-liberal theologians to critique ‘abstract’ principles of political liberalism and insist that communal norms are more ‘authentic’ than modern democratic freedoms. Principles of CST, including social solidarity, are contrasted with the apparent utilitarianism and instrumentalism of state ownership and control in political economy. Less attention has been paid to the insistence of the CST tradition that social problems need public authority with the power, organisation and the means to deliver progressive reform.
The concept of Subsidiarity in CST tradition is not intended to undermine the practice of democratic politics, but rather to explain its limits and to remind us of the importance of participation and accountability in representative democracies.
Subsidiarity is not a justification for decentralisation or localism per se, for it requires discernment on what is the appropriate level of Government for social and economic policies and practices. Critical analysis of concrete national political problems, from planning and transport to homelessness and social housing, suggest that a much wider ethical approach than that provided by local, community based or even municipal initiatives is needed to effectively deliver inclusive services to vulnerable and marginalised people.
To practice a social solidarity open to the universal charity, it must be accompanied by a commitment to a truth beyond subjective emotions and opinions. Such openness to the truth protects it from a narrow mindedness that is anti-human (no. 184).
Social responsibility and political love
An overly simplistic interpretation of Subsidiarity as localism and communalism has been sometimes been used to justify populist ‘anti-politics’ responses to the institutional politics of representative democracy. Yet Fratelli Tutti elevates politics higher than any current opinion poll to a “lofty vocation and one of the highest forms of charity, inasmuch as it seeks the common good” (no. 180).
In Fratelli Tutti Pope Francis speaks of wider social responsibilities as an important part of charity in the Christian tradition, which includes the ‘political love’ of macro relationships of the social, economic, and political; as well as close and intimate friendship (no. 181).
Principles of equality and freedom in modern political society are part of a universalist vision, true to the origins of the common good with respect for individual liberties and equality. But these rely on us taking on a social responsibility as the Good Samaritan did, not associating with others purely in the pursuit of particular interests (no. 102).
Democratic modern society is grounded in the formal equality between the master of the world or the poorest of the poor (no. 209). The challenge is to make this equality and freedom real for all, not an excuse for shallow freedoms (no. 103) or abstract conceptions of equality where only those whom we consider as associates count (no. 104).
Identifying with all by identifying with the least
The universal message of St Francis with which the Encyclical starts is one of sowing the seeds of peace and walking alongside those who are poor, abandoned, infirm and outcast, the least of all brothers and sisters (no. 2).
Fratelli Tutti ends with reference to the example of 20th century holiness of Charles de Foucauld whose spirituality of abandonment was expressed through his aspiration to be a brother to all (no. 286). His journey of transformation was achieved by identifying with those who were themselves abandoned, the least among us (no. 287).
Dr Maria Exall is PDRA in Catholic Social Thought and Practice in the Department of Theology and Religion, Durham University