Fratelli tutti: Fr. Barrios Prieto (COMECE), “a compass also at political level indicating path towards integral human development”

Pope Francis’ Encyclical “Fratelli tutti” invites “us all to be fraternal with each other, to help one’s neighbour whoever he or she is, without any sort of discrimination”. Fr. Manuel Barrios Prieto, General Secretary of COMECE, said this about ‘Fratelli tutti’, the document that Pope Francis signed on St Francis’ tomb in Assisi in early October. “This new Encyclical Letter - Fr. Barrios Prieto continued - is a call for a new way of living human relations: not only on paper, not only by words, but with our daily actions, in our private, public or professional life, overcoming social, cultural and religious divides, like Jesus explains in the Parable of the Good Samaritan or like St. Francis showed in his meeting with the Sultan al-Malik al-Kamal in 1219”. “Fratelli tutti” is thus “a new compass, useful also at the political level. It indicates the path towards integral human development, spelling out the needed steps to transform our economic and political systems and to shape them with attitudes such as openness, dialogue, engagement, solidarity, fairness, care for our common home, justice, promotion of the common good, support for the poor and marginalized”. According to the General Secretary of COMECE, Bergoglio’s third Encyclical Letter contains a strong reference to the “dream of a united Europe” as envisioned by the EU founding fathers (n.10) and “will inspire COMECE’s work in the years to come”.
Gianni Borsa