The growing ecological awareness invites us to broaden the horizons of the four principles of Catholic Social Teaching (CST): human dignity, solidarity, subsidiarity, and the common good[1]. The first principle affirms that the human being is an image of God (“imago Dei”) and has a very special dignity which, however, does not imply separation, but rather collaboration and service. Being capable for God (“capax Dei”) and, at the same time, brother of all creatures, the human being must serve them in the logic of gift, thus imitating the kenosis of Christ. Therefore, the awareness of his human dignity must not separate him from the rest of creation, but rather reinforce his responsibility towards all creatures. We are all brothers and sisters of the same heavenly God and part of a single project of love. On the other hand, the respect for creation does not mean that it is static and untouchable, as some neo-pagan or pantheistic movements claim, sacralizing it as “an untouchable taboo” (CV 48). In the name of an idea inspired by egocentrism and biocentrism it is being proposed that the ontological and axiological difference between men and other living beings be eliminated, since the biosphere is considered…

The concept of fraternity is complex and can be used at various levels (interpersonal, ecclesial, universal, cosmic) and with different meanings[1]. This term, with its variations (brotherhood, sisterhood, fraternity), was commonly used in the Middle Ages to refer to religious groups that were devoted to pious and charitable activities. Some associations of craftsmen and other professionals were also called “confraternities”. Today it is still used to refer, for example, to student associations and other religious or masonic groups. In the Catholic church it is usually applied to an entire religious Order[2] and to each of its provinces or local communities. The French revolution coined the motto: “Liberty, equality, fraternity”. Fraternity is thus associated to our common nature, to equality of rights and to an apparent universalism, but it does not overcome the dynamics of separation and tribal confrontation. The post-revolutionary order soon abandoned this term, “up to the point of its deletion from the political-economic lexicon”[3]. The French revolution conceives brotherhood “as coming from this world, from the similar heredity and nature of all”. Nevertheless, it “differentiated drastically and bloodily between the inner fraternal circle of the revolutionaries and the outer circle of the nonrevolutionaries”[4]. On the other hand, Marxism…