This past week, Pope Francis delivered a letter to American bishops in which he clarified his interpretation of “ordo amoris,” or the “order of love,” a Christian theological concept initially articulated by St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. 

“Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that, little by little, extend to other persons and groups,” Francis wrote, countering Vice President J.D. Vance’s invocation of the concept in his remarks on immigration in a Jan. 29 Fox News interview. 

During the interview, Vance explained: “You love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world.” Vance followed up with a tweet, writing “Just Google ‘ordo amoris.’”  

“Ordo amoris” is hard to explain in an op-ed, let alone a tweet or a soundbite. The obligation to love someone depends upon one’s proximity, but not proximity alone. Augustine wrote, “Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special regard to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstance, are brought into closer connection with you.” In other words, we are called to love those we encounter, a word that Francis has used often during his papacy. It is not always easy to love our family, friends, roommates, lab partners, and teammates, but because we are in relationship with them, we have an especially pronounced obligation to love them. Obviously, we are called to love the people closest to us in ways different from the people at whom we smile on Spring Street or those we read about in the news. Aquinas agreed, writing, “We ought to be most beneficent towards those who are most closely connected with us.” But he acknowledged that there could be exceptions to this general guidance for people facing particularly dire needs. “In certain cases, one ought, for instance, to succor a stranger in extreme necessity, rather than one’s own father, if he is not in such urgent need.” 

We are called to love others beyond our campus and home. Canon law states that we are “obliged to promote social justice and, mindful of the precept of the Lord, to assist the poor from their own resources.” According to Catholic social teaching, we actually ought to maintain a “preferential option for the poor.” Jesus taught his disciples to prioritize the needs of the most vulnerable — to recognize their dignity and affirm their humanity, especially when others were unable to do so. 

In his letter to the bishops, Francis writes that, to understand “ordo amoris,” we should “meditate” on the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), which teaches us to cultivate a “love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.” In the parable, a man is attacked on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho. Ignored by those who pass him, the man suffers until a Samaritan, a stranger and societal outcast at the time, stops to care for him, showing him mercy and compassion. They are not brothers, friends, nor acquaintances, but because the Samaritan man stopped to care, they have encountered one another on the road. The “Good Samaritan” embodies Jesus’ plea that we “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10: 27).

Reading through the diverse reactions from Catholic media outlets to both Vance’s and Francis’ statements, I have been reminded of the work of Father Greg Boyle, S.J., who visited the College in June 2022 when he was the Baccalaureate speaker and an honorary degree recipient at Commencement. Father Boyle, the founder of Homeboy Industries, a gang rehabilitation and re-entry program in Los Angeles, has written and spoken a lot about “kinship,” reminding us that “we belong to one another.” 

Kinship is essentially what Francis is imploring us to experience in his letter: “I exhort all the faithful of the Catholic Church … not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters.” 

Francis has not been this explicitly critical of past presidential administrations, even as they promoted policies in conflict with Catholic values and social teaching, including policies on abortion and immigration. 

In this sense, it feels like we are on new terrain. As executive orders, judicial rulings, and legislative policies go into effect, how can we recognize that we — despite our different lived experiences — belong to one another?

We are called to encounter one another, whether that is in person here in Williamstown, in our communities back home, or more abstractly, somewhere across the globe. 

In encountering someone else, we can recognize that we are kin, each of us striving to make our way and each deserving of love. 

Bridget Power is the College’s Catholic Chaplain.