Pope Francis on Universal Brother/Sisterhood (Fratelli tutti)

Blavatsky was a critic of the first Vatican council and made various allegations about corruption in the Jesuit order of her time. The Christian College Magazine was published by a Scottish Protestant missionary organization and ran a slanderous piece on Blavatsky. René Guénon's anti-theosophy essay 'Théosophisme' was edited by Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain. The Vatican issued a  report on the New Age movement with conceptual, conjectural, discursive, interpretative, theoretical speculations about Blavatsky which were inaccurate, contrived, and unproven. Also, their report on the condemnation of esoteric philosopher Giordano Bruno was unsatisfactory to me. Therefore, there are some tensions between the theosophical movement and Christian institutions to say the least.

However, did not the Second Vatican Council implement many of the critiques contained in Blavatsky's writings on Christianity? Has this not created a division between conservative and progressive Catholics? So when a man undertakes to promote theosophical concerns such as universal brother and sisterhood, opposition to the death penalty, and respect for the environment, I think such efforts deserve a fair hearing in theosophical forums, as has been done in various Masonic circles.

Fratelli tutti (All Brothers) is the third encyclical of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis, subtitled "on fraternity and social friendship".  In the document, Francis states that the way the COVID-19 pandemic was managed by world countries has shown a failure in global cooperation. The encyclical calls for more human fraternity and solidarity, and is a plea to reject wars and capital punishment. The document was signed on 3 October 2020, on the occasion of Pope Francis's visit to the tomb of his namesake, Francis of Assisi, and was published the following day on the saint's feast day. The encyclical's title is taken from Francis of Assisi's Admonitions. St Francis of Assisi used to say: "All brothers and sisters".

On 4 February 2019, Pope Francis signed the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together while on an apostolic journey to the United Arab Emirates. Co-signing the document was the grand imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb,  which was an inspiration for the document. Besides Francis of Assisi and the parable of the Good Samaritan, he also states that he has been inspired by numerous non-Catholics, including Martin Luther King, Desmond Tutu, and Mahatma Gandhi in a perspective of  Liberal Christianity,  which has Theosophical influences.  Pope Francis participated in a virtual observance of the International Day of Human Fraternity on 4 February 2021, a new celebration founded on 21 December 2020 by the United Nations and which was influenced by Fratelli tutti.

Introduction – Without Borders

8. It is my desire that, in this our time, by acknowledging the dignity of each human person, we can contribute to the rebirth of a universal aspiration to fraternity. Fraternity between all men and women. “Here we have a splendid secret that shows us how to dream and to turn our life into a wonderful adventure. No one can face life in isolation… We need a community that supports and helps us, in which we can help one another to keep looking ahead. How important it is to dream together… By ourselves, we risk seeing mirages, things that are not there. Dreams, on the other hand, are built together”. Let us dream, then, as a single human family, as fellow travelers sharing the same flesh, as children of the same earth which is our common home, each of us bringing the richness of his or her beliefs and convictions, each of us with his or her own voice, brothers and sisters all.

Chapter One: dark clouds cover the world

32. True, a worldwide tragedy like the Covid-19 pandemic momentarily revived the sense that we are a global community, all in the same boat, where one person’s problems are the problems of all. Once more we realized that no one is saved alone; we can only be saved together. As I said in those days, “the storm has exposed our vulnerability and uncovered those false and superfluous certainties around which we constructed our daily schedules, our projects, our habits and priorities… Amid this storm, the façade of those stereotypes with which we camouflaged our egos, always worrying about appearances, has fallen away, revealing once more the ineluctable and blessed awareness that we are part of one another, that we are brothers and sisters of one another”.

Chapter Two: strangers on the road

68. The parable (of the Good Samaritan) clearly does not indulge in abstract moralizing, nor is its message merely social and ethical. It speaks to us of an essential and often forgotten aspect of our common humanity: we were created for a fulfilment that can only be found in love. We cannot be indifferent to suffering; we cannot allow anyone to go through life as an outcast. Instead, we should feel indignant, challenged to emerge from our comfortable isolation and to be changed by our contact with human suffering. That is the meaning of dignity.

Chapter Three: vision of an open world

87. Human beings are so made that they cannot live, develop and find fulfilment except “in the sincere gift of self to others”. Nor can they fully know themselves apart from an encounter with other persons: “I communicate effectively with myself only insofar as I communicate with others”. No one can experience the true beauty of life without relating to others, without having real faces to love. This is part of the mystery of authentic human existence. “Life exists where there is bonding, communion, fraternity; and life is stronger than death when it is built on true relationships and bonds of fidelity. On the contrary, there is no life when we claim to be self-sufficient and live as islands: in these attitudes, death prevails”.

127. This is the true path of peace, not the senseless and myopic strategy of sowing fear and mistrust in the face of outside threats. For a real and lasting peace will only be possible “on the basis of a global ethic of solidarity and cooperation in the service of a future shaped byinterdependence and shared responsibility in the whole human family”.

Chapter Four: heart open to the world

138. Although this has always been true, never has it been more evident than in our own day, when the world is interconnected by globalization. We need to attain a global juridical, political and economic order “which can increase and give direction to international cooperation for the development of all peoples in solidarity”. Ultimately, this will benefit the entire world, since “development aid for poor countries” implies “creating wealth for all”. From the standpoint of integral development, this presupposes “giving poorer nations an effective voice in shared decision-making” and the capacity to “facilitate access to the international market on the part of countries suffering from poverty and underdevelopment”.

Chapter Five: better politics

164. Charity, on the other hand, unites both dimensions – the abstract and the institutional – since it calls for an effective process of historical change that embraces everything: institutions, law, technology, experience, professional expertise, scientific analysis, administrative procedures, and so forth. For that matter, “private life cannot exist unless it is protected by public order. A domestic hearth has no real warmth unless it is safeguarded by law, by a state of tranquillity founded on law, and enjoys a minimum of well-being ensured by the division of labour, commercial exchange, social justice and political citizenship”.

Chapter Six: dialogue and friendship

198. Approaching, speaking, listening, looking at, coming to know and understand one another, and to find common ground: all these things are summed up in the one word “dialogue”. If we want to encounter and help one another, we have to dialogue. There is no need for me to stress the benefits of dialogue. I have only to think of what our world would be like without the patient dialogue of the many generous persons who keep families and communities together. Unlike disagreement and conflict, persistent and courageous dialogue does not make headlines, but quietly helps the world to live much better than we imagine.

205. In today’s globalized world, “the media can help us to feel closer to one another, creating a sense of the unity of the human family which in turn can inspire solidarity and serious efforts to ensure a more dignified life for all… The media can help us greatly in this, especially nowadays, when the networks of human communication have made unprecedented advances. The internet, in particular, offers immense possibilities for encounter and solidarity. This is something truly good, a gift from God”. We need constantly to ensure that present-day forms of communication are in fact guiding us to generous encounter with others, to honest pursuit of the whole truth, to service, to closeness to the underprivileged and to the promotion of the common good. As the Bishops of Australia have pointed out, we cannot accept “a digital world designed to exploit our weaknesses and bring out the worst in people”.

Chapter Seven: renewed encounter

227. “Truth, in fact, is an inseparable companion of justice and mercy. All three together are essential to building peace; each, moreover, prevents the other from being altered… Truth should not lead to revenge, but rather to reconciliation and forgiveness. Truth means telling families torn apart by pain what happened to their missing relatives. Truth means confessing what happened to minors recruited by cruel and violent people. Truth means recognizing the pain of women who are victims of violence and abuse… Every act of violence committed against a human being is a wound in humanity’s flesh; every violent death diminishes us as people… Violence leads to more violence, hatred to more hatred, death to more death. We must break this cycle which seems inescapable”.

Chapter Eight: religion and fraternity

271. The different religions, based on their respect for each human person as a creature called to be a child of God, contribute significantly to building fraternity and defending justice in society. Dialogue between the followers of different religions does not take place simply for the sake of diplomacy, consideration or tolerance. In the words of the Bishops of India, “the goal of dialogue is to establish friendship, peace and harmony, and to share spiritual and moral values and experiences in a spirit of truth and love”.