Laudato Si’s Proposal that the Covid-19 Crisis Allows us to Rediscover. Five Years After the Publication of the Encyclical, the Validity of LS 175

Abstract

In this time of crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic, Pope Francis especially questions the Heads of State and Government. It is interesting then to rediscover the proposal that the Pontiff made in Laudato si’ 175, referring to the need for «stronger and more effectively organized international institutions», and the «unprecedented importance» of «diplomacy». In this article we ask ourselves: why is this statement particularly valid? The answer that we are trying to provide is that having passed five years after the publication of said encyclical, rediscovering, rereading, and above all putting into practice that request of Francis, would put the international system in better conditions to make human life possible in the post pandemic,
since certainly, «no one is saved alone». The article is structured according to this itinerary: first, we address the international insertion of the Holy See; second, we refer to the Pope’s notion of diplomacy in general and of the papal diplomatic service in particular; third, we stop at signs of Laudato si’ 175; and fourth, we make some final reflections, focused on the fact that Francis testifies, despite the crisis, that a new international system is possible.