Could the Pope save democracy?

23 October 2025, The Tablet

ALAMY, AYHAN TURAN

I would urge the Vatican to look very closely at Northern Ireland and the origins of the Good Friday Agreement.

Every day from around the world, information arrives with a single stark message: democracy is in trouble. Authoritarian regimes increase their hold on power, the rule of law is set aside, human rights are discarded, dissenters are persecuted and their lives put at risk, free speech is silenced. It is rumoured that Pope Leo XIV is working on a new social encyclical, recalling, re-emphasising and updating the teaching of Leo XIII.

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