Health first. On the advice of his doctors, Pope Francis has canceled his planned trip to Dubai for the United Nations climate summit, COP28, which opens Thursday, the Vatican announced Tuesday.
The 86-year-old pope, who has made environmental protection a cornerstone of his ten-year pontificate, planned to become the first pontiff to attend the UN summit since the process began in 1995.
The Pope makes this choice “with great regret”
“Although the general state of health of the Holy Father has improved, regarding his flu symptoms and his inflammation of the respiratory tract, the doctors asked the Pope not to make the trip planned in the coming days to Dubai,” a announced Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni. “Pope Francis accepted with great regret the doctors’ request and the trip is therefore canceled.”
The spokesperson, however, assured that the Pope still wished to participate in the discussions in Dubai and that the modalities of this participation would soon be defined.
His fight to fight climate change
Francis, who has suffered a series of health problems in recent years, had already canceled his planned activities on Saturday due to what the Vatican described as “mild flu-like symptoms.” A CT scan, however, ruled out “the risks of pulmonary complications”. The pope also delivered the traditional Angelus prayer on Sunday from his residence and not in St. Peter’s Square.
In Dubai, Francis planned to castigate countries for their lack of action on climate change and seek to persuade them to significantly reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. It was also expected to play a role in rebuilding trust between nations vulnerable to climate change and wealthy, consumerist polluters. At the head of 1.3 billion Catholics, more than half of whom live in developing countries, the pope has long emphasized the link between climate change and poverty.