In his encyclical On Fraternity and Social Friendship (Fratelli Tutti), Pope Francis described Charles de Foucauld as a “person of deep faith who, drawing upon his intense experience of God, made a journey of transformation towards feeling a brother to all.”
“Blessed Charles directed his ideal of total surrender to God towards an identification with the poor, abandoned in the depths of the African desert,” the Pope wrote. “In that setting, he expressed his desire to feel himself a brother to every human being, and asked a friend to ‘pray to God that I truly be the brother of all.’ He wanted to be, in the end, ‘the universal brother.’ Yet only by identifying with the least did he come at last to be the brother of all. May God inspire that dream in each one of us” (286–287).
Find a story from Visions / Visiones about Saint Charles here (English, Spanish). His feast day is December 1, the day of his martyrdom and his entry into eternal life.
Image credit: CIRIC International
