Fratelli tutti: a renewing Encyclical on new and urgent things

Abstract

The article asks about the advances in social teachings present in Pope Francis’ recent social encyclical. The Social Doctrine of the Church is characterized by being in tune with the present reality and, consequently, by the permanent updating of its teachings. . The new Encyclical continues this stance and offers a conclusion to Francis' social magisterium and to Catholic social teaching itself. Fratelli tutti forms a coherent pair with Laudato Si' in offering a political diagnosis of the global reality and indicating possible ways out of the planetary crisis. The classic see-judge-act method structures the whole text. The teachings advance in the critique of the regime that governs the planet centered on isolation, in the proposal of a new form of planetary management that rescues the values of modernity and the gospel, and adopts dialogue with differences as a rule and method. Among the paths of dialogue, interreligious dialogue is indicated as essential, where the Pope offers an unprecedented theological foundation of cultural and religious differences.