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On Wednesday, the Fratelli tutti Foundation, with Secretary General Father Francesco Occhetta, participated in an afternoon of study and reflection on the value of fraternity in work and the economy, promoted by the CNEL, the Public and Private Labor Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, and the National Committee for the celebration of the eighth centenary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi.

The event took place in conjunction with World Day of Fraternity, established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2020 to promote intercultural and interreligious dialogue, based on the Document on Human Fraternity signed by Pope Francis and Grand Imam Al-Tayyeb on February 4, 2019, in Abu Dhabi. The purpose of the Day is to promote mutual understanding, respect, and tolerance among different people, peoples, and cultures.

The study meeting was opened by the president of the CNEL, Renato Brunetta. Speakers included: Walter Rizzetto, President of the XI Labor Commission of the Chamber of Deputies; Father Francesco Occhetta, Secretary General of the Fratelli tutti Foundation; Luigino Bruni, professor at LUMSA University and Vice President of The Economy of Francesco Foundation; Valentina Rotondi, professor at SUPSI University in Lugano and Oxford University; Davide Rondoni, poet and president of the National Committee for the celebration of the eighth centenary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi (click here for the full event).

The study day focused on the CNEL draft law on fraternity in the workplace, inspired by the results of the thematic round table promoted by the Fratelli Tutti Foundation and currently under parliamentary review, and the Global Fraternity Index compiled by The Economy of Francesco Foundation with the contribution of LUMSA University.

THE CNEL BILL

At its meeting on July 24, 2025, the CNEL Assembly approved the bill entitled “Provisions for the promotion of human fraternity in the workplace,” which was submitted for parliamentary review to the competent XI Labor Commission of the Chamber of Deputies. The text of the bill is an expression of the labor principle of the Constitution, which implicitly refers to the principle of fraternity, one of the cornerstones of modernity. It is an invitation to citizens, entrepreneurs, workers, institutions, social partners, and policy makers to return to the heart of modern humanism, which has been lost every time it has lost its three-dimensionality (‘liberty, equality, fraternity’). The aim of the bill is to promote initiatives of various kinds to give concrete expression to the value of fraternity in the 21st century, thus encouraging the harmonization of work and life, civil corporate welfare, worker participation in the management of the company, and promoting the adoption of and compliance with rules and procedures of codes of ethics and conduct consistent with the principle of fraternity.

THE GLOBAL FRATERNITY INDEX

On November 30, 2025, The Economy of Francesco Foundation, a movement of young economists established in 2019 by Pope Francis, presented the First Global Report on Fraternity. Fraternity, despite being a moral and social pillar, had not yet been measured. Developing an innovative indicator based on international data, the report analyzes the degree of fraternity within and between global economies. Rooted in the legacy of St. Francis and the teachings of the encyclical ‘Fratelli Tutti’, the report clarifies the contemporary meaning of ‘fraternity’ and invites us to rethink development, work, cooperation, and collective well-being.