Pope stresses reform in UN, says it’s “obvious” after Ukraine war and Covid-19

Pope Francis said the need to reform the United Nations was “more than obvious” after the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war exposed its limits, in an extract of his new book published Sunday.

Titled ‘I Ask You in the Name of God. Ten Prayers for a Future of Hope’, the Pope’s new book has been edited by Hernan Reyes Alcaide and is due to come out in Italy Tuesday.

The Argentine pontiff said Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine highlighted the need to ensure the current multilateral structure — especially the UN Security Council — finds “more agile and effective ways of resolving conflicts”.

Also read: Pope appeals to Putin to end spiral of violence in Ukraine

Calls for more multilateralism

“In wartime, it is essential to affirm that we need more multilateralism and a better multilateralism,” but the UN is no longer fit for “new realities”, he added in an extract published by La Stampa daily.

The organisation was founded to prevent the horrors of two World Wars from happening again, but although the threat represented by those conflicts was still alive, “today’s world is no longer the same”, said Francis.

“The necessity of these reforms became more than obvious after the pandemic” when the current multilateral system “showed all its limits,” he added.

Flags unequal vaccine distribution

Francis denounced the unequal distribution of vaccines as a “glaring example” of the law of the strongest prevailing over solidarity.

The excerpt released on Sunday begins with Pope Francis recalling that Church teaching refutes the idea that war can solve problems between nations, saying war is “always a defeat for humanity.”

The Pope said the war in Ukraine, which began with Russia’s invasion on 24 February, has revealed the horrors that result from war.

Warns of third world war

He also recalled the quick succession of the last century’s two world wars, and said we are currently experiencing “a third world war fought piecemeal” which threatens to expand into a full-scale global conflict.

Also read: Mexican President proposes panel for global truce, led by Modi, Pope Francis, UN chief

Reflecting on the diffusion of weapons, Pope Francis said the arms trade is one of the worst moral scandals of our era, along with the closure of national borders to those who seek a better life.

He also expressed concern over the spread of personal firearms, which he said has led to the proliferation of mass shootings and the accidental deaths of young children when guns are improperly stored.