MULTILATERALISM is threatened by “nationalism and protective isolation”, the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, has said.
He was delivering a homily in the Methodist Central Hall, in London, on Saturday morning, at a service of thanksgiving on the 80th anniversary of the inaugural meeting of the United Nations. A conference to mark the anniversary took place in the Hall in the afternoon.
Cardinal Nichols, who retires next month (News, 2 January), said: “It is a great privilege to stand before you today in this hall, where, exactly 80 years ago, the seeds of a fresh global framework were sown. On 10 January 1946, as the echoes of the Second World War still reverberated across a shattered continent, representatives from 51 nations gathered here, not as victors and vanquished, but as wayfarers on a shared path towards peace.
“They came to shape the United Nations, an audacious dream born of necessity: that humanity, scarred by unimaginable loss, could choose co-operation over conflict and dialogue over destruction.”
While the UN’s vision endured today, he said, “we cannot shy away from honest reckoning.” Multilateralism faced “fierce headwinds”, as “conflicts rage from Ukraine, across parts of Africa, in the Middle East; climate accords are stalled; and the digital age fractures our shared truths into echo chambers of division.”
He continued: “We hear proclamations of peace, yet see aggression used as its means. But such proclamations are only for a peace that suits the aggressor. The very idea of nations working with trust, purpose, accountability, and patience feels, at times, like a whisper against the clamour of nationalism and protective isolation. This we see also in the plight of refugees turned away at borders and in the erosion of trust that once bound us together.”
The Christian faith offered “a timeless compass” in the efforts to “rekindle the spirit that once found expression in this hall”, Cardinal Nichols argued. “St Paul puts before us the behaviour that is needed: mutual respect and service, hospitality to the stranger, patience, empathy, freedom from revenge, the pursuit of the noble and the good.”
The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, also addressed the service. For eight decades, he said, the UN General Assembly had been “the place [where] the world comes together to help advance peace, promote sustainable development, and safeguard human rights”.
Yet today, the multilateral system was “under threat”, he said. Last year had been a “profoundly challenging” one for international co-operation and the values of the UN, as “aid was slashed, inequalities widened, climate chaos accelerated, international law was trampled, crackdowns on civil society intensified . . . and United Nations staff were repeatedly threatened — or killed — in the line of duty.
“In this moment, when the values of multilateralism are being chipped away, it is up to us . . . to take a stand. More than ever, the world needs civil-society movements that are fearless and persistent — that make it impossible for leaders to look away.”