Fratelli Tutti: Message of the Minister General

Dear Brothers, May the Lord give you peace! With great joy, I come to each of you to wish you a Happy Feast of Saint Francis 2020 from the bottom of my heart. Even though we are experiencing a world health emergency, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ (Rom 8:35), and nothing can take away from us the hope and joy that the Gospel and the person of Christ bring. We Friars Minor are particularly happy with the beautiful gift that Pope Francis has just given to the Church and to all men and women of goodwill, who will welcome the message of his new encyclical “Fratelli tutti”, on Fraternity and Social Friendship. It is once again inspired by the words of the Poor Man of Assisi and in perfect continuity with the central message of Laudato Si’, in which the Holy Father taught us the importance of feeling interconnected and in communion with the whole of creation, assuming a vision of integral ecology. This encyclical letter, as the title suggests, will be a prophetic message and an urgent appeal to remember that “God created all human beings equal in rights, duties and dignity and called them to live together as brothers and sisters among themselves” (FT 5). We welcome this powerful invitation to desire to be part of God’s Dream with great openness and determination. As the Pope himself says, we dream of one humanity, as pilgrims in the same human flesh, as children of this same earth... each with the richness of his faith... each with his own voice, all brothers and sisters (FT 8).

Br. Michael A. Perry, OFM Minister General