ABSTRACT
The article aims to reflect on the concepts of ἀγαθωσύνη and χρηστότης in Pope Francis’ Encyclical Fratelli Tutti (2020). He quotes Gal 5,22, transliterating the terms from Greek to Latin characters: agaptosyne (FT, n. 112) and chrestotes (FT, n. 223). The present article seeks to understand the biblical basis and Biblical Theology of the Fratelli Tutti, as well as the biblical intuition of Francis when indicating these virtues as a path to fraternity and social friendship, indicating two of the nine fruits of the Spirit present in the Pauline text of Gl 5,22-23. Understanding the biblical bases, explicit and implicit, as well as the guiding thread of the Theology of Fraternity present in Fratelli Tutti, is very important for understanding the mission that Christianity has in the face of the current crisis of fraternal love between people and peoples. Francis indicates these two virtues as a privileged way of building fraternity and caring for the common home, of inviting humanity to overcome the partner’s logic and enter into the brother’s logic (FT, n. 101-105). After carrying out a study of the biblical basis of the Encyclical Letter, we seek to analyze the Pauline text of Gal 5,22. From that letter, Francis points out two fruits of the Spirit for the building of the fraternity and of the good. The study reveals that Francis has before him the Judeo-Christian biblical tradition, as well as today’s reality and challenges of lack of kindness and goodness. The study also reveals that Francis wants to make a contribution, inviting the Church and the society in general to reflect on the seriousness of the risk in which humanity finds itself, in order to seeks ways to overcome the current crisis of solidarity between individuals and peoples.
KEYWORDS
Solidarity; Kindness; Goodness; Peace; Justice