Abstract:Since the beginning of his mandate, Pope Francis has used the concept of periphery as a metaphor of social marginality. However, the notion of periphery also seems to target the asymmetries generated by the liberal version of globalization. Pope Francis' narrative has to be read in the broader context of the relation between religions and globalization. That interaction is usually conceptualized in terms of religions capitalizing on global "vectors", such as new information and communication technologies, processes of political and institutional integration, shared cultural patterns, transnational phenomena and organizations. An alternative way to analyze the role of religions consists in considering them as agencies defending the perspective of a universal community, putting into question the national political boundaries and contesting the existing global order. Understood in those terms, the concept of periphery reveals to be a powerful rhetoric device, insofar as it suggests that it is possible to get a wider perspective of the current state of the world looking form the edge rather than from the center.

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This paper analyzes the theoretical and pragmatic implications for international relations and world politics of the new holistic approach to climate change articulated by Pope Francis in the Encyclical Laudato Si', particularly through the notion of "integral ecology". It is not my intention to offer an exegesis of the Papal document. I will rather try to illustrate and discuss its planetary hermeneutics. I emphasize that the Encyclical's perspective is not exclusively normative, and that, within the dynamic interplay between social structure and human agency, it can also be considered as a call to action. In this context, I suggest that both International Relations Theory and global politics have much to learn from the fundamental claims of contemporary religions in relation to climate disruption. In particular, Pope Francis' document, far from being just a new chapter in the unfolding process of the "greening" of religions, raises the issue of the sustainability of the present world system. Therefore, I contend that the perspective of the Encyclical calls for a radical transformation of international relations, since it emphasizes the deep implications of environmental issues on the entire spectrum of security, development, economic and ethical challenges of contemporary world politics. Against this backdrop, my objective is to connect the main tenets of the Encyclical to the environmental turn in International Relations Theory and to the new epistemological challenges related to the paradigm shift induced by the new planetary condition of the Anthropocene and the relevant questions arising for a justice encompassing the humanity-earth system. The Encyclical seems to suggest that practicing sustainable international relations means exiting the logic of power or hegemony, while simultaneously operationalizing the concept of care.

A new awareness on the role of religion in international relations has started to inform concrete policy discussions in several Western Ministries of Foreign Affairs under the heading of 'religious engagement' in foreign policy. Italy is no exception but as the country which hosts the Holy See represents a special case. As the approach to religion found in the historical record of the Italian foreign policy shows, Italy has a comparative advantage and could well develop a unique model of religious engagement by strengthening the central structures involved in religious matters and foreign policy as well as by using the vast network of Rome-based religious non-state actors as a forum of consultation and policy advice.Against the prediction of the secularisation thesis, it has gradually become clear in the last quarter of century that religion is back at the centre stage of international politics. As Toft, Philpott and Shah remind us in their recent book, God's Century, politicians and diplomats in the 21 st century must "learn to live with the fact that the issue is not whether, but when and how, religious actors will enter public life and shape political outcomes".1 It is only in the last five years, however, that governments have been looking at the global resurgence of religion in international affairs as a specific policy challenge which requires strategic thinking and appropriate policy responses: this new, small, but fast growing, policy area is now often referred to as 'religious engagement' in foreign policy.2 Ministries of Foreign Affairs of European countries such as France and the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Norway and Hungary have started to strengthen their capacity to engage with the unexpected global resurgence of religion in world politics in order to "make better policy and to make a bigger difference", as the title of a recent conference sponsored by the Foreign Office suggests.3 The US, the EU and Canada have moved in a similar direction by creating new offices and advisors' roles.This policy challenge represents, for the country hosting the Holy See, an interesting casestudy and opportunity to reformulate the traditional approach to religion found in the 1 Toft, Philpott and Shah, God's Century, 211. 2 See Mandaville and Silvestri, "Integrating Religious Engagement and Diplomacy". 3 "Religion, foreign policy and development: making better policy to make a bigger difference",

Growing attention is given in IR theory and diplomatic circles to the ambivalent role of religion in world politics. However, there is a need for more analytical clarity, identifying at least four different domains: religions and interstate relations; religions and internationalism; religions and trans-nationalism; and religions and globalism. The most promising approach is the one that concentrates on the transnational projection of religions, connecting it to the way religions address global issues to influence international actors.