Pope Francis could participate in the International Climate Conference to be held in Dubai from November 30 to December 12, Reuters reported on October 19, 2023. There he will express his call to stop the climate catastrophe, a call that he recently renewed in the apostolic exhortation Praise the Lordpublished in early October.
There is no final decision yet
Francisco wants to go to DubaiThe Pope’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, told Reuters on the sidelines of an event in Rome on Wednesday. The “number 2” of the Holy See added that the Pope has not yet made a final decision.
On October 11, Pope Francis received Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, president of COP 28, in an audience at the Vatican.
According to sources I.Media Asked, this trip to the United Arab Emirates is still under consideration. American media The pillar He also reported that the Vatican had canceled a papal audience scheduled for Nov. 30 with World Youth Day organizers in Lisbon due to an “’unscheduled’ papal trip.”
This would be the First time that a Pope attends a United Nations conference on climate change.. In October 2021, the Scottish bishops had announced that the Argentine Pope would attend COP 26 in Glasgow, but this trip ultimately did not take place. In 2015, the writing of the encyclical Praised yes on “safeguarding the common home” was accelerated so that it could be published before COP 21 in Paris.
A “turning point” in the fight against global warming?
On October 4, Pope Francis published an update to this encyclical on ecology in an apostolic exhortation titled Praise the Lord – “Praise the Lord.” In it he dedicates an entire chapter to the upcoming climate conference, with the title “What to expect from COP 28 in Dubai?”
In this chapter, the Pontiff says expects “a turning point” next December. He sets lofty goals for the summit: the establishment of “binding forms of energy transition.” These must be “efficient, mandatory and easily monitored.”
“Only in this concrete way will it be possible to significantly reduce carbon dioxide levels and prevent even greater evils over time,” he warns, arguing that such measures would restore the “credibility” of “international politics.”
If it becomes a reality, this trip to Dubai will be Pope Francis’ second visit to the United Arab Emirates. The future Pontiff, who will soon turn 87, visited the capital, Abu Dhabi, in February 2019 to sign the Document on human fraternity for world peace and coexistence with the Grand Imam of Al-AzharAhmad Al-Tayyeb.
