Pope Francis has warned humanity that it is faced with a crucial choice. The coronavirus pandemic is a crisis affecting the whole world, he said, but “you can’t get out of a crisis the same.

Pope Francis has warned humanity that it is faced with a crucial choice. The coronavirus pandemic is a crisis affecting the whole world, he said, but “you can’t get out of a crisis the same. We come out better, or we come out worse … After the crisis, will we continue with this economic system of social injustice and contempt for the care of the environment, of Creation, of the common home?”

In a series of addresses being given at his weekly general audience, he is spelling out how he sees the challenge: “On the one hand, it is imperative to find the cure for a small but terrible virus, which is bringing the whole world to its knees. On the other hand, we must cure a great virus, that of social injustice, inequality of opportunity, marginalisation and the lack of protection of the weakest.”

This is a very serviceable summary of the difficulties and dilemmas every government is facing, including the Government of the United Kingdom. Those difficulties and dilemmas are of a momentous scale, and no government in the world could expect to sail through such a time of trial unscathed. But the government of Boris Johnson has not distinguished itself even in such fallible company. According to a series of international statistical measures – number of cases and number of deaths in proportion to the population, the extent of economic damage and the poor rate of recovery – Britain is at or near the top.

Get Instant Access

Continue Reading

Register for free to read this article in full

REGISTER

Subscribe for unlimited access

SUBSCRIBE NOW

From just £37.50 quarterly

  Print copy of The Tablet delivered directly to your door.
  Complete access to all Tablet website content including all premium content.
  Access to the weekly digital copy of The Tablet.
  Full access to The Tablet’s archive – over 180 years of back issues.

Already a subscriber? Login