The Vatican announced on Wednesday that Pope Francis will miss COP28 due to illness. File Photo by Stefano Spaziani/UPI | License Photo
Unfortunately, Pope Francis will not be able to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP28, later this week in Dubai, on the advice of his physicians.
Vatican officials said Tuesday that Francis would sadly have to cancel his appearance at the meeting where world leaders address climate change issues due to his recent illness.
Despite showing some signs of improvement, Francis’ doctors have asked him not to attend the conference as he continues to recover from flu and respiratory tract inflammation, the Holy See office stated in a press release.
The pope was scheduled to speak at COP28 from Friday to Sunday, addressing the assembly on Saturday, and marking the first time a pope has attended the climate conference and inaugurated its first Faith Pavilion.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni suggested that Francis may still participate in the climate meeting remotely, adding that “the modalities by which this can happen will be defined as soon as possible.”
As the pontiff continues to recover from lung inflammation and breathing difficulties, he has decided to cancel several meetings this week.
In a statement made on Monday, Bruni mentioned that physicians conducted a CT scan at Gemelli Hospital last Saturday to check for pneumonia and began administering antibiotics intravenously.
Francis’ absence at COP28 was announced shortly after the White House revealed that President Joe Biden would not be attending either, opting to have climate change envoy John Kerry represent the United States instead.
Despite these absences, world leaders are set to convene at COP28 to discuss their progress on climate change policy.
“COP28 opens tomorrow with a resounding call to accelerate global climate action,” U.N. Climate Change expressed on X. “As the climate crisis worsens around the world, COP28 must be a decisive moment to act on climate commitments and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.”