New York, Sept. 26 -- The COVID-19 pandemic is a trial, but also "a time to choose what matters and what passes away, a time to separate what is necessary from what is not", Pope Francis told world leaders on Friday, in his virtual address to the UN General Assembly.

The Head of the Catholic Church, representing The Holy See, which is a UN Permanent Observer State, suggested that this crisis is also an opportunity to rethink our way of life, and systems that are widening global inequality. However, he warned that it could equally lead to a "'defensive retreat' into greater individualism and elitism".

The first path, continued Pope Francis, s one that leads to stronger multilateralism, global co-responsibility, solidarity, and peace, whi...