Who are my Brothers and Sisters? Pope Francis Provides an Answer
Pope Francis is the first pope to come from South America. While he is Argentinian by birth, many of his ancestors came from a small province called Asti in the Piedmont Region of Northern Italy. Friday May 5th the Pope had the occasion to welcome and address members of the Diocese of Asti that were in Rome for a pilgrimage. Quickly the discourse turned to the topic of family.
“Let’s stop for a moment to consider this word: ‘family.’ Family is a reality that has changed quite a bit and continues to change. It remains, however, a key value. But do you know when the true revolution of the family happened? Do you know who caused it? The answer is simple…Jesus Christ. He is the author of the true revolution of the family. He also transformed and renewed the concept of family.” The Pope then referenced the episode in Matthew 12 in which Jesus’s mother and brothers were asking to speak to him. Jesus said in response: ‘Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?’ And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother’” (Matthew 12:46-50).
Francis then continued: “At the beginning I referred to you all as my ‘brothers and sisters.’ It’s not just a simple formula or way of referring to others. No. It is a reality, a reality created by Jesus Christ, and as I said before, these words of Christ (Matthew 12) radically renewed the concept of family. Therefore, the bond that binds Christians is not blood, but the love of Christ. His love transforms family and frees it from self-absorption that derives from…sin.” These words are true. In Christ Jesus the concept of family takes on new meaning and is greatly enriched and enlarged. Later in his address, however, Pope Francis makes additional comments that bring great confusion to a message that is seemingly clear.
We learn in his address that a new clinic was recently opened in Asti and given the name Fratelli tutti (All Brothers) in honor of the Pope’s most recent encyclical. This prompted the Pope to say “All brothers means that there (at the clinic), in that environment, family will be formed between those who are healed and the medics and nurses and volunteers that will serve and help the sick and needy….The word ‘fraternity’ is not just a nice thing to say…but has a foundation, Jesus Christ, who makes us all brothers and sisters. And there is a way to get there, the Gospel, that is, walking in love, in service, in forgiveness, and in carrying one another’s burdens.”
Where exactly is the confusion? It is in the Pope’s reference to his encyclical All Brothers, which communicates a very different concept of family. In March 2021, about six months after the publication of All Brothers, Pope Francis made an apostolic journey to Iraq. On Saturday March 6th, on the Plain of Ur, Francis participated in an interreligious meeting in which Jews and Muslims were present. He addressed the participants with the following words: “Dear brothers and sisters, this blessed place brings us back to our origins, to the sources of God’s work, to the birth of our religions. Here, where Abraham our father lived, we seem to have returned home. It was here that Abraham heard God’s call; it was from here that he set out on a journey that would change history. We are the fruits of that call and that journey.”
Both the Roman Catholic pilgrims from Asti, and the Jews and Muslims gathered in Iraq, are referred to by Pope Francis as “brothers and sisters” and are considered family. His address to the pilgrims on May 5th is replete with talk of Jesus Christ. His address in March 2021 in Iraq, however, does not mention Christ even once. Yet they are all “brothers and sisters”. They are all family. How can this be? Alas, the confusion emerges. The reference to Abraham in Iraq is a clear reference to Vatican II’s Lumen gentium which refers to Muslims as brothers because they hold the faith of Abraham. Here we see the tug-of-war between the Roman and Catholic expressions of the Church. In Iraq the catholicity of the Church is on full display. We are all brothers and sisters, despite our different religions and confessions. To the pilgrims from Asti Francis switches to the Roman nature of the Church, with more traditional references to Jesus and the Gospel.
Scripture, however, does not permit this tug-of-war and back and forth. The Bible is clear in its articulation of the Gospel and of family that is fruit of the good news of Jesus Christ. Although one certainly understands the point that was being made, there is irony in the Pope’s words to the pilgrims of Asti when he said: “the bond that binds Christians is not blood, but the love of Christ.” However, the clear message of the Bible is that the bond that unites the people of God and that forms the church, creating a spiritual family, is the blood of Christ Jesus shed on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins (Ephesians 2:13). Faith in what Christ accomplished on the cross with the shedding of his blood creates clear parameters for who belongs to the family of God, and who does not. In the cross the true revolution of the family is realized and defined.
While Jews and Muslims and Christians are called to live in peace, to respect one another, to dialogue, and to collaborate together on issues that do not require a capitulation of any kind whatsoever of the gospel, the Bible is crystal clear that they are not brothers and sisters in the way that Pope Francis suggests. To say otherwise confuses and distorts the gospel to a point of unrecognition. And if the gospel is no longer recognizable, it can no longer save.
Paul wrote to the Galatians: “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith” (Galatians 3:26). To be a son of God, faith in Christ Jesus is essential. Jews and Muslims do not place their faith in Jesus Christ. They are not, therefore, sons of God. So, while it is quite unpopular today to draw clear lines that are often interpreted as being divisive and arrogant, the Bible requires clarity and distinction on what it means to be brothers and sisters and children of God. The evangelical church, therefore - while being characterized by love - must also remain faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ and preach God’s Word with clarity. This means not capitulating to the pressures of the world, but instead maintaining the clear parameters imposed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ for what it means to be a part of the family of God. Only when those boundaries are maintained can God’s family truly grow. May it be so.