Pope Francis, the head of the largest church in the world, said that the economy “cannot resolve every problem,” in his latest encyclical. The papal message to the Catholic Church members also highlighted the importance of fraternity and social friendship.
The Papal Message
Vatican City has released the pontiff’s third encyclical, the highest papal teaching. The title of the document “Fratelli Tutti” translates to “Brothers All,” CNN reports. Particularly, his message to the billions of Catholic members from all over the world varied in several issues like economic injustice, social inequality, religious freedom, social media, and the death penalty.
Encyclical #FratelliTutti https://t.co/c89aZACfGa pic.twitter.com/TRJktiKntO
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) October 4, 2020
According to NPR, the pope started to write the encyclical earlier this year. Actually, its original intent stemmed from the interreligious dialogue. But when the pandemic struck, he widened the focus of the document regarding the coronavirus crisis.
‘Family of Nations’
In the encyclical, the pontiff tackled the economy. “The marketplace by itself cannot resolve every problem, however much we are asked to believe this dogma of neoliberal faith,” the pope said. He also noted that good economic policy would provide jobs.
Moreover, Pope Francis encouraged the United Nations to treat every nation as a family towards the common good, eradicate indigence, and protect human rights. He also added that the UN must promote the force of law instead of the law of force. With this, multilateral accords should protect the weaker states, the pontiff wrote.
Pope Francis also pointed out what the world would look like after the coronavirus pandemic. Particularly, he said that our worst scenario would have us “plunge even more deeply into feverish consumerism and new forms of egotistic self-preservation.”
Other Messages
The Catholic church head also tackled social inequality. He noted the racism as a “virus that quickly mutates and instead of disappearing goes into hiding and lurks in waiting,” Pope Francis wrote. Moreover, he also questioned the church for not denouncing slavery immediately. Additionally, he also said that the death penalty is unacceptable, and he encouraged nations to abolish such policy,
Furthermore, the pontiff also said that a just world does not only mean no wars but a “craftsmanship” involving everyone.