A theme dear to the Pope: in February 2019 in Abu Dhabi, he signed a “Declaration on human fraternity”, with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University, Ahmed al-Tayyeb.
In September 2019, a “High Committee” was created to implement this document. This would be the Argentine Pope’s third encyclical after Lumen Fidei (2013) on faith and Laudato Si (2015) on integral ecology.
During the meeting in Rieti, specifies the site ilcattolico.it, the Provincial of the Friars Minor, Father Massimo Fusarelli, spoke about the planned events of 2020 – the centenary of the assassination of the Franciscan protomartyrs in Morocco – to 2026, the 800-year anniversary of the death of Saint Francis. These initiatives will see the collaboration of the Franciscan province of Saint Bonaventure and the municipality of Rieti, Lazio.
According to Mgr Domenico Pompili, Bishop of Rieti, Italy, Pope Francis could soon release an encyclical on fraternity.
The bishop expressed this on August 26, 2020 during the signing of a charter establishing the Committee for the 8th Centenary of the Franciscan Rule and the Crèche of Greccio (1223-2023): “The Pope will shortly release a encyclical on the theme of human fraternity,” he said during the streamed meeting.
[Working translation from French by Zenit English’s Sr. Vatican Correspondent, Deborah Castellano Lubov]
