After two years of policies against COVID-19, an international group of Catholic scholars and lawyers met in Rome under the auspices of the International Catholic Jurists Forum to reflect on how society has handled the crisis in the fields of law, politics and of religion. The purpose of the meeting was to underline what needs to be done in the future to better safeguard subsidiarity, fundamental human rights, especially the freedom of religion and conscience, of expression, of assembly and of movement as well as democracy in itself and the unity of family life.

The scholars and jurists, authors of this book, discussed how the pandemic has affected the functioning of Western political systems, how it has changed our thinking about democracy and how it has influenced the life of the Church.

“This conference was superbly designed and really helpful. Involving scholars and professionals from many countries [...] What was learned [...] was not only what happened worldwide between 2020 and 2022 but what must not be allowed to happen again » (Iain Benson, Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame, School of Law, Sydney, Australia)

“Government closures of churches during the COVID pandemic have taught us that we can no longer take for granted the precious freedom to practice our faith” (Charles LiMandri, Esq., LiMandri & Jonna, LLP)

“Many churches in the West have failed their spiritual covid-test. They carried a high viral load of fear – fear of disease, fear of man, fear of death – and showed low levels of spirit antibodies. The gospel of freedom from fear has rarely been preached in a way that challenges secular powers or popular sentiment" (Douglas Farrow, professor of theology and ethics, School of Religious Studies, McGill University, Montreal)

"The essence of totalitarianism is when a government takes complete control not only over the external behavior of citizens but also over their inner life, the way they think and evaluate the world" (Rev. Piotr Mazurkiewicz, Professor of Political Science, University Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, Warsaw, Poland)