Pope cancels visit to COP28 due to illness

Pope Francis has cancelled his planned trip to COP28 on the advice of doctors who are concerned about his influenza and lung inflammation.

 

Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, said tonight that Pope Francis, 86, had accepted the advice that he should cancel the three-day visit to Dubai “with great regret”. Earlier today, the Pope had insisted he would be going.

 

Bruni said in a statement: “Even though the Holy Father’s general health situation has improved in relation to the flu and respiratory tract inflammation he has been suffering from, his doctors have asked the pope not to undertake his scheduled visit to Dubai in the coming days, on the occasion of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.”

Cafod’s director of advocacy Neil Thorns, said, “We hope that countries at COP28 will live up to Pope Francis’ urgent call for greater ambition on addressing the climate crisis, and for politicians to leave a legacy they can be proud of. We hope he recovers soon and will continue to encourage leaders from Rome.”

Pope Francis, who is passionate about environmental issues, was due to address the conference on Saturday and take part in the inauguration of the first COP Faith Pavilion on Sunday. He was due to meet about 30 people including 20 heads of state.

Overall the Pope’s health has improved since Monday, Bruni added, saying he was more stable than he had been. 

Meanwhile, the Anglican Communion will be represented at COP28 by Archbishop Julio Murray, Bishop of Panama and the Anglican Communion’s lead on climate change; Archbishop Hosam Naoum, Archbishop of Jerusalem and Primate of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East; Agnes Lam, co-chair of the Anglican Communion Youth Network’s fifth Mark of Mission Committee based in Hong Kong and Nicholas Pande, Anglican Alliance Disaster Resilience and Response Lead and UN Environment Policy Lead based in Nairobi Kenya.

The Anglican Communion will also host panel discussions, which will be live-streamed, about justice with top business leaders, dialogue with indigenous leaders, gatherings with young adults to hear their concerns and conversations between faith leaders on the day’s “hot topics”.

In a video message to the Global Leaders Faith Summit, which met in Abu Dhabi earlier this month, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said: “Faith leaders represent the majority of people across the world, from both developed and developing countries. We can demonstrate to world leaders that people of faith want to see, and are willing to support, change. We can lead by example and let world leaders know they have a mandate for bold, ambitious decision making at COP28.”