Is Leo's new encyclical completing Francis's Fratelli Tutti & finishing "the Catholic Church...infiltra[tion] by the Religion of Humanity...[where] humanity is an abstraction that is not experienced"?
Leo XIV’s new encyclical makes Christ equivalent to mere human beings
The prompt echoes the late Cardinal George Pell, who frequently warned that progressive contemporary dialogue often relies on modern sociological or ideological jargon rather than traditional Christian virtues. In this view, "compassion" tends to break people into categorized groups (such as oppressors and oppressed), functioning as a tool of socio-political analysis rather than supernatural love. [1, 2]
This perspective argues that modern humanitarianism relates to an abstract, theoretical "humanity". Because humanity as a whole is an abstraction that individuals cannot genuinely experience, this ideology lacks the necessary grounding provided by concrete communities, cultures, and nation-states. By bypassing the nation-state and the Church—both of which offer structure and a forum for mutual relation—individuals are left to navigate society without real political mediation. [1]
In works like Metamorphoses of the City, French political philosopher Pierre Manent traces the historical development of collective self-government, from the ancient Greek polis and the Roman Empire to the modern nation-state. He emphasizes that the nation-state is the unique political form that allowed for the specific exercise of citizenship and human freedom. A post-national or purely humanitarian approach risks erasing these meaningful political bonds. [1, 2, 3]
The argument highlights a divide between patristic, Christological readings of the Good Samaritan and modern humanitarian interpretations. In the patristic tradition, Christ is often the Good Samaritan, the victim is human nature, and the inn is the Church. Conversely, in Pope Francis's 2020 encyclical Fratelli Tutti, the parable is widely read as a model for globalized social friendship and universal fraternity, challenging the boundaries of borders and citizenship. Critics suggest this humanitarian lens blurs the distinction between a fellow citizen and a foreigner, undermining the Catholic understanding of local, particular communion in favor of a universal abstraction. [1, 2, 3]
The following is part of a book review of Pierre Manet's "
Seaton begins with the provocative statement that the Catholic Church is infiltrated by the
religion of humanity. While he is no Taylor Marshall, the phrasing evokes Marshall's book of
a few years ago, which Weigel called "the worst". Thus, the religion of humanity is an idol.
A key example is the replacing of the virtue of charity with compassion. Charity is loving
the other for the sake of God. Compassion as the word is used today goes into various forms
of, as Cardinal George Pell said, neo-Marxist analysis based on breaking people up into groups.
The individual then relates to an abstract notion of "humanity", and as the saying goes, I love
humanity but I hate people.
Missing is the political mediation of the nation-state, citizenship,
and the Church, with the Catholic understanding of communion. Manent gives the development
of the nation-state in Metamorphoses of the City, among other works. When it comes to the
issue of migration, there is a difference between charitable care and ignoring the distinctions of
citizenship, when they were just citizens of another country. Manent notes that the Good Samaritan
is interpreted in a humanitarian, not a Christological patristic sense, for instance in Fratelli Tutti,
the 2020 letter by Pope Francis. The phrase "religion of humanity" is used because humanity
is an abstraction that is not experienced, we're all from a particular nation and culture. [https://www.amazon.com/Religion-Humanity-Illusion-Our-Times/dp/1587317060]
BREAKING: Leo XIV’s new encyclical makes Christ equivalent to mere human beings...
... Despite its attention to Christ, the five-chapter encyclical is clearly oriented toward man and his dignity. In fact, by reaffirming Francis’ error of the infinite dignity of man, Leo XIV makes Christ and the human being — regardless of religion and state of grace — equivalent. In other words, Christ becomes the symbol of humanity:
For this reason, as a believer among believers, I invite everyone to contemplate, in the face of the Son of God, the grandeur of humanity that shines a light also on the era of AI. […] This human face is the fullness toward which history is moving. It is the mystery of “recapitulation”: the certainty that the Father has decreed to bring all things, those in heaven and those on earth, back to Christ, the one Head (cf. Eph 1:10). In this plan, nothing will be lost that is authentically human. Indeed, everything will be purified and reunited in the One, who gathers every fragment of life, every tear and every authentically human achievement, rescuing them from nothingness and delivering them, redeemed, to the Father.
Steven O'Reilly's take on Fratelli Tutti:
Fratelli Tutti reads more like a leftist manifesto of the sort one might expect in a speech by a General Secretary of the United Nations as John Lennon’s song Imagine echoes softly and hauntingly in the background, rather than a document written by a Successor of St. Peter, the Vicar of Christ.
The core of Fratelli Tutti pretty much shares the same banal ‘borderless,’ religiously indifferent, ‘brotherhood of man‘ message of Imagine‘s lyrics, yet unfortunately does so without the song’s brevity. At least with Imagine one can ditch the lyrics and still walk away humming a lovely melody. Fratelli Tutti offers none of these partial graces for one’s time and efforts.
Fratelli Tutti, like much of what Francis has to say, is both long-winded and forgettable. It is annoyingly ponderous and meandering — like other documents penned by Francis’ ghost-writer, such as Amoris Laetitia and Laudato Si. Yet, surely, it reflects his style and thought, in all of its annoyingly ponderous, long windedness.
So, if you must listen to a message about the “brotherhood of man,” religious indifferentism and a world without borders, I recommend you listen to Imagine rather than read Fratelli Tutti, for then you will at least have a pleasant tune you could hum afterwards for your trouble. [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2020/10/bizarre-francis-fratelli-tutti-steven.html]
Leo when a bishop had a loving take on Fratelli Tutti which his new encyclical apparently reflects:
Today, Sunday, October 4, on the Solemnity of Saint Francis of Assisi, Bishop Robert Prevost OSA, Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Callao, reflected on Pope Francis's new encyclical "Fratelli tutti" during Holy Mass. We share the full homily here.
Today's Gospel and the times in which we are living, especially during this pandemic, call us to consider new and creative ways of being missionaries. We also call on them to do our part through social media, knowing that we can all do our part to ensure that the proclamation of the Gospel remains the Church's priority.
With the help of Pope Francis, we're going to reflect a little more on this point, but I want to briefly comment on the readings we just heard.
[...]
At the end of the Mass, the Pope signed an encyclical letter, written for all of us, for all the men and women of the world. Its title, in Italian, quoting St. Francis, is: "Fratelli tutti" (Brothers and Sisters All).
[...]
We want, with God and in God, an open world without walls, without borders, without exclusions, without strangers. To achieve this, we must have an open heart.
[...]
He also speaks of the world's different religions and calls everyone to prayer, saying that prayer is called to serve fraternity in the world. Through openness to the Father of all, we recognize our universal condition as brothers and sisters: all sons and daughters of God. And this is not the path as Christians, as Catholics, for the Gospel teaches us this. The source of human dignity and fraternity is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. [https://www.diocesisdelcallao.org/noticias/mons-robert-prevost-reflexiona-acerca-de-la-nueva-enciclica-del-papa-francisco-fratelli-tutti]
Stop for a moment of silence, ask Jesus Christ what He wants you to do now and next. In this silence remember God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost – Three Divine Persons yet One God, has an ordered universe where you can know truth and falsehood as well as never forget that He wants you to have eternal happiness with Him as his son or daughter by grace. Make this a practice. By doing this you are doing more good than reading anything here or anywhere else on the Internet.
I ask all The Catholic Monitor readers to also pray for the end of this war. Watch "Trump Calls Putin To Get Iran War Offramp! w/ Scott Ritter" on YouTube: ...Read more Please Pray for Trump to end the Iran War: Watch "Trump Calls Putin To Get Iran War Offramp! w/ Scott Ritter" on YouTubeFranklin & Graham calls on Christians to pray for 'end to the bloodshed' ahead of Trump-Putin summit...7mo
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Conclave Notes:
-- Open letter urges Pope Leo XIV to correct ‘scandalous incoherence’ in Amoris Laetitia...[Wow! Even notorious Popesplainer Fr.] Harrison warns that Pope Francis taught a ‘dangerous self-contradiction’ on Communion for the divorced and ‘remarried,’ petitioning Pope Leo to correct the record. [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2025/08/open-letter-urges-pope-leo-xiv-to.html]
-- Are the Cardinals who will participate in the upcoming conclave authentically appointed & morally justified in voting, or will the shadow of Francis's possible illegitimacy cast itself over the next papacy? [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2025/04/are-cardinals-who-will-participate-in.html]
-- 5 Dubia Questions for 1P5's Steve Skojec & All faithful Catholics especially Francis is definitely Pope Cardinals, Bishops & pundits [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2019/06/5-dubia-questions-for-steve-skojec.html]
Francis Notes:
l– Doctor of the Church St. Francis de Sales totally confirmed beyond any doubt the possibility of a heretical pope and what must be done by the Church in such a situation:
“[T]he Pope… WHEN he is EXPLICITLY a heretic, he falls ipso facto from his dignity and out of the Church, and the Church MUST either deprive him, or, as some say, declare him deprived, of his Apostolic See.”
(The Catholic Controversy, by St. Francis de Sales, Pages 305-306)
Saint Robert Bellarmine, also, said “the Pope heretic is not deposed ipso facto, but must be declared deposed by the Church.”
[https://archive.org/stream/SilveiraImplicationsOfNewMissaeAndHereticPopes/Silveira%20Implications%20of%20New%20Missae%20and%20Heretic%20Popes_djvu.txt]
– “If Francis is a Heretic, What should Canonically happen to him?”: http://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2020/12/if-francis-is-heretic-what-should.html
– “Could Francis be a Antipope even though the Majority of Cardinals claim he is Pope?”: http://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2019/03/could-francis-be-antipope-even-though.html
– If Francis betrays Benedict XVI & the”Roman Rite Communities” like he betrayed the Chinese Catholics we must respond like St. Athanasius, the Saintly English Bishop Robert Grosseteste & “Eminent Canonists and Theologians” by “Resist[ing]” him: https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2021/12/if-francis-betrays-benedict-xvi.html
– LifeSiteNews, “Confusion explodes as Pope Francis throws magisterial weight behind communion for adulterers,” December 4, 2017:
The AAS guidelines explicitly allows “sexually active adulterous couples facing ‘complex circumstances’ to ‘access the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.'”
– On February 2018, in Rorate Caeli, Catholic theologian Dr. John Lamont:
“The AAS statement… establishes that Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia has affirmed propositions that are heretical in the strict sense.”
– On December 2, 2017, Bishop Rene Gracida:
“Francis’ heterodoxy is now official. He has published his letter to the Argentina bishops in Acta Apostlica Series making those letters magisterial documents.”
Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Church by the bishops by the grace of God.
Election Notes:
– Intel Cryptanalyst-Mathematician on Biden Steal: “212Million Registered Voters & 66.2% Voting,140.344 M Voted…Trump got 74 M, that leaves only 66.344 M for Biden” [http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2020/12/intel-cryptanalyst-mathematician-on.html?m=1]
– Will US be Venezuela?: Ex-CIA Official told Epoch Times “Chávez started to Focus on [Smartmatic] Voting Machines to Ensure Victory as early as 2003”: http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2020/12/will-us-be-venezuela-ex-cia-official.html
– Tucker Carlson’s Conservatism Inc. Biden Steal Betrayal is explained by “One of the Greatest Columns ever Written” according to Rush: http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2021/01/tucker-carlsons-conservatism-inc-biden.html?m=1
– A Hour which will Live in Infamy: 10:01pm November 3, 2020:
http://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2021/01/a-hour-which-will-live-in-infamy-1001pm.html?m=1
What is needed right now to save America from those who would destroy our God given rights is to pray at home or in church and if called to even go to outdoor prayer rallies in every town and city across the United States for God to pour out His grace on our country to save us from those who would use a Reichstag Fire-like incident to destroy our civil liberties. [Is the [J6] DC Capitol Incident Comparable to the Nazi Reichstag Fire Incident where the German People Lost their Civil Liberties?: http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2021/01/is-dc-capital-incident-comparable-to.html?m=1 and Epoch Times Show Crossroads on Capitol Incident: “Anitfa ‘Agent Provocateurs‘”:
http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2021/01/epoch-times-show-crossroads-on-capital.html?m=1]
Pray an Our Father now for the grace to know God’s Will and to do it.
Pray an Our Father now for America.
Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Church as well as the Triumph of the Kingdom of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
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