By chhotebhai

Kanpur, Sept 12, 2024: Had I entered a Spelling Bee contest I would have failed miserably, considering that I have mis-spelt the title of Pope Francis’ encyclical “Fratelli Tutti” that he wrote during the Covid pandemic.

Unlike previous Popes, he wrote in Italian, not Latin. Seven centuries earlier St Francis of Assisi also preferred Italian to the classic Latin.

Why have I deliberately mis-spelt the title? Like the two Francis’ I too have a penchant for switching languages. The original title, taken again from St Francis of Assisi, means “Brothers and sisters all.” However, I have substituted the Hindi word “Tooti,” which means broken or snapped. So Fratelli Tooti means the breakdown of fraternity. Get where I am going?

Let’s delve into church history. Vatican I was a General Council called by Pope Pius IX in 1869, in response to the French and American revolutions. Earlier when Pope Pius VI died in captivity in France in 1779, some French newspapers carried these headlines on August 29, 1779: “The hated papacy is at an end/ There will be no more popes/ the last successor of the Great Fisherman is dead/ The last pope of history dies at Valens.”

In response to these serious threats to the very institution of the papacy, Vatican I, on June 18, 1870, gave the definition of the dogma of Papal Infallibility. Vatican I is therefore considered the Council of the Pope and his primacy.

In contrast Vatican II (1962-1965) has been described as the Council of the Bishops and the Laity. This is because the “Dogmatic Constitution of the Church” (LG) affirms the collegiality of bishops, that is, a body of equals joined to the pope (cf LG 22). So the Pope, though a first among equals, cannot be a monarch on a throne, issuing diktats without consultation with his brother bishops.

As for the laity, it shares a fraternal (Fratelli) relationship with the clergy. “By divine condescension the laity have Christ for their brother … They also have for their brothers (Fratelli) those in the sacred ministry” (LG 32). This fraternal bond is described in greater detail in Nos 30-38. Those interested to learn more may kindly reference the same.

Does the laity experience the clergy as brothers or fathers? The answer is obvious, from wishing “Good morning Father,” a term that Jesus despised and banned (cf Mat 23:9), to total subservience or indifference to what the clergy decide or do. It is for this reason that I chose the word Tooti to indicate a breakdown in relationships. One could go a step further to say that such a relationship never really existed. It was cleverly sabotaged by a deeply entrenched hierarchy and clergy.

This is why all pastoral councils in India are stacked with lay women, men or youth who will just nod their heads in submission. Knowledgeable lay leaders are cleverly sidelined, so there is nobody to raise disconcerting questions. This, despite the Dogmatic Constitution making express provisions for the same.

“Every layman should reveal to them (clergy) his needs and desires with that freedom and confidence which befits a son of God and a brother in Christ. An individual layman, by reason of the knowledge, competence or outstanding ability which he may enjoy, is permitted and sometimes even obliged to express his opinion on things which concern the good of the church” (LG 37).

While holding the hierarchical Church primarily responsible for keeping the laity in the dark about its rights, I must also castigate lay leaders and organizations for having failed in their duty to gain knowledge, experience and competence about church teachings and not sharing it with others. As George Menezes, my mentor in public life once said, “Nobody is a victim unless one allows one’s self to be victimised”. Much truth in that.

I myself purchased a copy of the Vatican II documents by VPP from Asian Trading Corporation, Bangalore, way back in 1969, when I was just 18 years of age. Perhaps I should attribute this “cardinal sin” to the devil or the promptings of the Holy Spirit!

From the age of 18 I was also involved in church activities, beginning with the Legion of Mary, parish councils and later as the Founder Secretary of the U.P. Regional Youth & Vocations Bureau and the youngest ever National President of the All India Catholic Union (AICU), that too from the north where Catholics are miniscule in number.

While demitting office from the AICU in 1994 I had said that we need SARA (Setting the Agenda through Responsible Assertiveness). That has been the thrust of my activities, writings and YouTube videos. However, after 56 years of service to the ecclesial community I can only say in anger and frustration, “Fratelli Tooti”.

In this long pilgrimage I can identify just four priests who really believed in the role and vocation of the laity. Firstly, Swami Amalorpavadas, who died in a road accident when coming, at my invitation, to Bangalore for the AICU meeting where I was elected.

The second was Jose Benedict, secretary of the CBCI Laity Commission. He too died in a road accident. Then there was my spiritual guru Capuchin Father Deenabandhu and Jesuit Father Josef Neuner, whose book “The Prophetic Role of the Laity” had a profound impact on me.

Recently we celebrated Raksha Bandan, the sacred bond between siblings. My family celebrates this occasion with special fervor. Such a fraternal bond has been absent in the Catholic Church, at least in India. This is why the laity finds itself unprotected and at the mercy of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent hierarchical church. It is the poorer for it.

I shall now quote a few relevant averments from Fratelli Tutti’s first chapter, ominously titled “Dark Clouds over a Closed World”. In our context I would replace the word “world” with ‘church”.

• Love, justice and solidarity are not achieved once and for all, they have to be realized each day (FT 11)
• Globalization makes us neighbours but does not make us brothers (FT 12)
• The best way to dominate and gain control over people is to spread despair and discouragement, even under the guise of defending certain values (FT 15)
• What is true as long as it is convenient for someone in power stops being true once it becomes inconvenient (FT 25)
• We encounter the temptation to build a culture of walls, to raise walls … to prevent this encounter with other peoples (FT 27)
• They flourish because they claim to be defenders of the forgotten often by providing various forms of assistance even as they pursue their criminal interests (FT 28)
• How wonderful it would be, even as we discover far away planets, to discover the needs of the brothers and sisters who orbit around us (FT 31)
• No one is saved alone, we can only be saved together (FT 32)
• At times the frantic pace of the modern world prevents us from listening to what another person is saying (FT 48)
• Destroying self-esteem is an easy way to dominate others … powerful interests take advantage of such low self-esteem (FT 52)

Though these reflections were expressed as “an invitation to dialogue among all people of goodwill” (FT 6), they are even more applicable to a highly clericalised ecclesial community; for charity begins at home. Pope Francis himself has called clericalism the greatest scourge in the church. It is the total hegemony and monopoly of the clergy over the life and mission of the church.

It is my humble prayer and fervent hope that all members of the church – bishops, priests, religious, lay women, men and youth, pay heed, not to what I am saying, but to the authentic, official teaching of the church and its present head Pope Francis. More and more he comes across as a voice crying in the wilderness (Mat 3:1), a one man army struggling against insurmountable odds. Neuner correctly stated that a prophet always stand alone.

That is why they also stand out, despite the Fratelli Tooti.

(The writer is presently the convener of the Indian Catholic Forum that is committed to a synodal church and secular society.)