For Pope Francis, the UN has “shown its limits” and must be reformed

The change is now ? A new book by Pope Francis, “I ask you in the name of God. Ten prayers for a future of hope”, released Tuesday in Italy. The daily La Stampa published an excerpt from it on Sunday, and the Argentine pontiff calls for reform of the United Nations, which according to him “showed their limits” with the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

“When we talk about global peace and security, the first organization we think of is the United Nations and, in particular, its Security Council. The war in Ukraine has once again highlighted the need for the current multilateral structure to find more agile and effective paths towards conflict resolution,” he said.

“To serve the human family”

“In times of war, it is essential to affirm that we need more multilateralism and better multilateralism”, adds François, but the UN as it has functioned since its creation no longer “responds to the new realities “. He advocates “organic reforms, intended to restore international organizations to their primary vocation of serving the human family”.

“The need for these reforms became more than obvious after the pandemic, during which the current multilateral system showed all its limits. From the distribution of vaccines, we had a glaring example of what sometimes the law of the strongest weighs more than solidarity, ”he regrets.