Whose brother can I be?

Pope Francis continues to challenge us to re-evaluate our place in this world as true brothers and sisters to all. This upcoming movie ‘Francesco’ comes at a time when Pope Francis exhorts us to read and embrace his latest encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, that he signed standing at the tomb of Saint Francis of Assisi last week..

Fratelli Tutti addresses both fraternity and social friendship; together they are the central message of his text. The realism that runs through the pages dissolves any romantic emptiness that always lurks about whenever we speak of fraternity. For Francis, fraternity is not just an emotion, a feeling or an idea – no matter how noble – but a fact that also implies an outcome, an action (and the freedom to act): “Whose brother can I be?”