Fratelli Tutti

As reported by Douglas Ernst in the September 24 The Washington Times, “Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò said the 2020 presidential election presents Americans with a “biblical” challenge “against the demonic forces of the deep state and against the New World Order.” The Catholic Church’s former Apostolic Nuncio to the U.S. once again warned voters that warring principalities unseen to the human eye will clash on Election Day. 

The archbishop previously framed the political landscape to a battle between “the children of light and the children of darkness” in June. “Presidential elections in November represent an epochal challenge, a biblical challenge, the outcome of which will be decisive not only for the United States of America but for the whole world,” he wrote in a letter offered, but not read, to Wednesday’s National Catholic Prayer Breakfast. “It is necessary that all of you Catholics of America are well aware of the role that Providence has deigned to entrust to your President, and that you are aware of the extraordinary battle that He is preparing to fight against the demonic forces of the deep state and against the New World Order,” the religious leader wrote. “I am at your side with fervent prayer, together with millions of Catholics and with all people of good will throughout the world.” 

The archbishop also asserted that Mr. Trump is “the greatest defender of the supreme values of Christian civilization: of life, from conception to natural death; of the natural family composed of one man and one woman and children; and of love for the homeland: One Nation under God!”

Wow! Some praise and warning to American Catholics!  Archbishop Vigano is a very vocal critic and opponent of Pope Francis.  Some would say he is outrageous and continues to disrespect our Pope.  He certainly flaunts the Church’s instruction that Church leaders should not openly support one candidate over another. 

Perhaps one way to judge who to follow would be to read Pope Francis’ new encyclical, Fratelli tutti, described in the October 5 Boston Globe article entitled “Encyclical a warning about a world in reverse: In book-length document, Pope decries tribalism and xenophobia.” Isabella Piro of Vatican City has provided a summary of his work.  She reported: Opened by a brief introduction and divided into eight chapters, the Encyclical gathers – as the Pope himself explains – many of his statements on fraternity and social friendship, arranged, however, “in  a broader context of reflection” and complemented by “a number of letters, documents” sent to Francis by “many individuals and groups throughout the world.” 

In the first chapter, “Dark clouds over a closed world,” the document reflects on the many distortions of the contemporary era: the manipulation and deformation of concepts such as democracy, freedom, justice; the loss of the meaning of the social community and history; selfishness and indifference toward the common good; the prevalence of a market logic based on profit and the culture of waste; unemployment, racism, poverty; the disparity of rights and its aberrations such as slavery, trafficking, women subjugated and then forced to abort, organ trafficking. 

It deals with global problems that call for global actions, emphasizes the Pope, also sounding the alarm against a “culture of walls” that favors the proliferation of organized crime, fueled by fear and loneliness. Moreover, today we observe a deterioration of ethics, contributed to, in a certain way, by the mass media which shatter respect for others and eliminate all discretion, creating isolated and self-referential virtual circles, in which freedom is an illusion and dialogue is not constructive.

Before we vote in November, it will be instructive to read the Pope’s encyclical and contrast his views with that of Viganò.  The differences are stark.  Will we be “the children of light or the children of darkness?”  It will depend on our own interpretation.  Perhaps we should be guided by Jesus’ definition and not our own.

Deacon David Pierce