Abstract

The Document on Human Fraternity deserves a very careful and critical analysis: this article provides such an approach and it reveals some aspects which have been ignored by the enthusiastic and due consent around a landmark in the relations between Sunni Islam and Roman Catholic Church. The document comes after several efforts to open a stable relation and a major incident like the Ratzinger’s Vorlesung in Regensburg (2007): the response to a so unexpected papal critique started a new framework. The presence of new actors (KAICIID) and new intra-Arabic tensions (Quatar- UAE) marks the beginning of a new dialogue, where the terms brotherhood, brotherliness and fraternity comes to the surface, leading to the Abu Dhabi Forum. After some hypothesis on who the actual authors are and a study of the circumstances, the Document on Human Fraternity is scrutinized in its parallels, sources, wording. What emerges is that for Pope Francis the gesture was more relevant than any other conciliar consideration.