The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis will attend the COP28 climate meeting in Dubai at the beginning of December.
Pope Francis is slated to go to Dubai from December 1-3, 2023, for the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28).
Pope Francis is visiting the United Arab Emirates at the invitation of President His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
During his 10-year pontificate, Pope Francis has prioritized combating climate change. In October, he delivered an apostolic exhortation expressing alarm that the world is on the edge of collapse owing to global warming.
The Pope addressed the climate catastrophe and blamed it on an “irresponsible lifestyle” in his letter Laudate Deum (Praise God).
Since these meetings began in 1995, this will be the first time a pope has participated.
During his papacy, Francis, now 86 years old, has made environmental conservation a top priority. Francis issued a strong statement on October 4 urging climate change skeptics and slow-moving politicians to rethink their position, stressing the need to accept human causes and respect science as the earth nears a critical stage.
Recent catastrophic weather occurrences inspired Laudate Deum, which frequently alludes to the difficulties faced by COP28.
As stated in the memo, Francis worried that a failure in Dubai would be a major setback that could jeopardize the progress accomplished so far.
Extreme weather phenomena, prolonged periods of exceptional heat, drought, and other cries of protest from the earth have become increasingly common in recent years, the Pope wrote, and they cannot be ignored because they are merely a few perceptible indications of a silent disease that affects everyone.
Fear and alarmism, which Francis sees as challenges to democracy, are frequent targets of his criticism. On the other hand, he has used the prospect of a climate disaster to galvanize public support for action.
No data supports the claim that climate change is increasing the severity or frequency of natural catastrophes like hurricanes, floods, and droughts. However, there is considerable evidence that CO2 mitigation methods are as detrimental as they are costly.
