Created by God for love

by Grant Tungay SJ

The president made interesting observations in the State of the Nation Address last week. He noted that we live in a world of “both interdependence and competition, of cooperation and conflict.” This competition is focused on trade, technology and global institutions. He also mentions that the world is facing the challenges of climate change, artificial intelligence and rising conflicts and tensions between countries. He highlights how countries respond to these challenges – through a rise in “nationalism and protectionism, the pursuit of narrow interests and the decline of common cause.”

This is quite a condemnation of the state of international relations. One might be tempted to say that we have learnt nothing from the COVID-19 crisis, a period characterised by global panic and narrowing state interests. In the face of the sufferings of others worldwide, states turned inwards and “looked out for Number 1.”

The condemnation of this approach is well voiced by Pope Francis in his excellent encyclical on social friendship, or “Fratelli Tutti”. Published in 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 crisis, Pope Francis asks a pertinent question: “Amid the fray of conflicting interests, where victory consists in eliminating one’s opponents, how is it possible to raise our sights to recognise our neighbours or to help those who have fallen along the way?” He then goes on to note that in the context of the world in 2020, a plan which would set goals for the flourishing of the whole human family sounds like “madness”.

But Pope Francis has us consider God’s call for us and presents a reason for hope in the world. His advice is based on the parable of Jesus, the Good Samaritan. This parable calls us out of indifference towards an encounter with the challenges and sufferings of those around us. He emphasises that this parable is not simply a call to all states to engage in better foreign policy but to each of us in our individual contexts. He says that we can start to act “at the most concrete and local levels and then expand to the farthest reaches of our countries and our world.” This is another way of saying that “charity starts at home”.

If we consider Pope Francis’s call in the context of his apostolic exhortation on the family, “Amoris Laetitia”,  we can start to see his plan for social transformation. Individual families can be “domestic churches” and a “leaven of evangelisation” in society if they practice solidarity with the poor, are open to diversity in society, care for creation, and nurture other families.

Considering these writings, Pope Francis lays out a plan for international well-being: good states should be like good families—taking care of the poor, respecting the diversity of peoples, caring for creation, and nurturing other states. This plan recognises a profound truth: that there are really no strangers among us because we are all part of the human family—created by God for love.