It feels like a bit of a resurrection story referring to ‘Fratelli tutti’ but it won’t be too long before we will finish it. Chapter Six continues with a few paragraphs under the general heading ‘A New Culture’. In his usual way, Pope Francis introduces a term to catch the sense of what he is doing. He speaks of ‘a culture of encounter’. Culture is more than an abstract idea — it is a meeting of people to make a difference, to work together to build a ‘social peace’. As he says in n.218, “All this calls for the ability to recognize other people’s right to be themselves and to be different…Without (this recognition), subtle ways can be found to make others insignificant, irrelevant, of no value to society. While rejecting certain visible forms of violence, another more insidious kind of violence can take root; the violence of those who despise people who are different, especially when their demands in any way compromise their own particular interests.”
Roman Catholic Diocese of Cloyne, County Cork, Ireland.
