Is there any connecting factor between Bobby Scott and Bob Russell on one side and Cain on the other? In a certain sense they represent two different politico-ethical positions or two different world views.

In their ballad “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”, Scott and Russell represent the communitarian position translated in a political system based on solidarity. We are part of each other and responsible for each other. Solidarity is not a burden but a benefit.

Cain knew who his brother was but believed that he is not his keeper. Cain represents a world view and political ideology that promotes individual interests and weakens the communitarian dimension of life. It spawns, among other things, neoliberal capitalism with its belief in unbridled market forces as well as racism which sees the ‘foreigner’ as a threat not a brother.

The struggle between both world views is ever going. The feeling of many is that individualism and neo-liberalism is getting the upper hand.

Enter the Good Samaritan

Pope Francis’s encyclical letter Fratelli Tutti, as is to be expected from a papal encyclical, takes the communitarian position with a vengeance. He builds on and around the parable of the Good Samaritan turning it into an urgent reveille for communitarianism.

This parable is proposed as the foundation stone on which a more humane post-COVID world can be built. It militates against an economic system that privileges the market over all else and against a political system based on the building of physical or metaphorical walls.

In more sense than one Fratelli Tutti has all the trapping of a political programme that truly respects the dignity of each human person. Marcel Rémon SJ, director of the Centre for Social Research and Action (CERAS), quite rightly describes this encyclical as very political. He quickly adds that having a pope who is involved in politics is necessary. Truth be told fortunately this is not the first encyclical that can be called political. It could not be otherwise as the Gospel is political.

Humbug and rubbish, says Francis

Let us look at a small sample of political ramifications of the pope’s statements.

Some say: America First. Others say: Malta first and foremost. From the point of view of Francis’s ontological concept of universal brotherhood, all this is humbug.

“We can then say that each country also belongs to the foreigner, inasmuch as a territory’s goods must not be denied to a needy person coming from elsewhere.” (para 124)

Some believe that the market should be left on its own to create wealth which will then trickle down to all and sundry. Rubbish, reacts Francis. He notes that “the marketplace, by itself, cannot resolve every problem, however much we are asked to believe this dogma of neoliberal faith” (168).

Neoliberalism proposes the magic theories of “spill over” or “trickle” without appreciating the fact “that the alleged ‘spill over’ does not resolve the inequality that gives rise to new forms of violence threatening the fabric of society.” (168) The poor remain the victims.

Francis reminds me of the lyrics of Leonard Cohen’s song, Every Knows.

“Everybody knows that the dice are loaded; The poor stay poor, the rich get rich That’s how it goes.”

We Maltese show solidarity on a grand scale, just note the many charitable events held regularly, some would say.

The feeling of many is that individualism and neoliberalism is getting the upper hand- Fr Joe Borg

Solidarity is much more than that, retorts Francis.

He acknowledges that solidarity in several quarters “has become a dirty word, a word that dare not be said.” (116) He then adds: “Solidarity means much more than engaging in sporadic acts of generosity. It means thinking and acting in terms of community. It means that the lives of all are prior to the appropriation of goods by a few.” (116)

My brother the immigrant

The anti-immigration lobby that believes that Malta is full-up, that the solution is for immigrants stay cooped up in Libya as they are a threat to Malta, will find no solace in Fratelli Tutti.

Francis says that “unnecessary migration ought to be avoided” by “creating in countries of origin the conditions needed for a dignified life and integral development.” (129) (He has already strongly condemned the idea of sending immigrants back to Libya.) But until that happens “our response to the arrival of migrating persons can be summarised by four words: welcome, protect, promote and integrate.”

For Francis “the arrival of those who are different, coming from other ways of life and cultures, can be a gift” (133) not a danger. He ups the ante in para. 135: “Immigrants if they are helped to integrate, are a blessing, a source of enrichment and new gift that encourages a society to grow.”

Francis’s analysis of contemporary society and culture is a harsh one. In the first chapter of Fratelli Tutti he speaks of “dark clouds”, “shattered dreams” and a “closed world”. He recognises and outlines new paths of hope. The hope that Francis speaks of is a bold hope that thirst for the achievement of great things.

There is, after all, light in the end of the tunnel if humanity has the courage to consider that we are Tutti Fratelli and live up to this reality.