A Uniquely Franciscan Time
David B. Couturier, OFM. Cap.
We live in a uniquely Franciscan moment in history. During his ten years as pontiff, Pope Francis has engaged the chronic and pernicious problems of our age with a consistent (Franciscan) call for an integral love for all creatures and a persistent invitation to sisterhood and brotherhood. In the encyclical Fratelli Tutti (2020), Pope Francis gave a synthesis of his Magisterium. He offered a “new dream” for humanity: a call to walk together as “brothers and sisters all” (Fratelli tutti) to join forces in building a more just and united world, and thereby to generate a better and more hopeful future for all.
Two new works provide a positive and substantial background for understanding what Pope Francis has in mind. The first is the work by Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerney and Italian theologian, Chrisitan Barone, entitled Siblings All: Sign of the Times – The Social Teaching of Pope Francis (Orbis Books, 2022). It is a remarkable in-depth analysis of the most provocative themes of Pope Francis’ concerns about the state of our planet (“our common home”) and the plight of those most vulnerable in today’s world, especially migrants and refugees (almost 60 million people on any given day).
Pope Francis himself in his preface to the book summarizes the project under consideration: “for the Church to be in dialogue with the world, but most of all, for it to put itself at the service of humanity, taking care of creation, as well as announcing and working to realize a new universal sister-and brotherhood in which human relations as healed of egoism and violence and are founded instead on reciprocal love, welcome, and solidarity.”
Another work published by Franciscan Institute Publications explores the distinct features of this universal Franciscan conception of sister-brotherhood (fraternity). Written by Pietro Maranesis OFM Cap. and translated by Steven McMichael OFM Conv., Francis: Brother of All – The Fraternity in the Proposal of the Saint of Assisi (2023) guides readers through the exciting and inspirational proposal of St. Francis for a new set of relationships in his (and our) world. Maranesi wonderfully breaks open the layers of meaning contained in the concept of fraternity, setting it in its proper historical context and teasing out its implications for social reconciliation today.
As we approach the end of summer and the beginning of fall, with the great Feast of Francis on the horizon, these two works would be a great preparation for the renewal and transformation we need to be authentic witnesses and disciples of the Lord in our world. These are educated works without the all-too-frequent scholarly jargon meant to be provocative, inspirational, and accessible reading. As Pope Francis suggests, they are not simply tools for dialogue, they are more importantly roadmaps for action.