Pope to new Ambassadors: 'May COP28 be an historic step forward'

By Lisa Zengarini

Pope Francis accepted the Credential Letters presented by six new Ambassadors to the Holy See. The nations they represent include Kuwait, New Zealand, Malawi, Guinea, Sweden and Chad.

Multilateral diplomacy for global solutions to crises

Welcoming the diplomats to the Vatican on Thursday, the Pope reiterated his strong concern for world peace at a time he has repeatedly termed as a Third World War fought “piecemeal”, and for the future of our common home threatened by climate change. In this context, he stressed the crucial importance of diplomacy. 

“Given the global dimensions of the conflicts in course," the Pope said,  "the international community is challenged, through the peaceful means of diplomacy, to seek global solutions to the grave injustices that so often are the cause of those conflicts.” 

Recalling his recent Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum, Pope Francis again reaffirmed the pressing need to reconfigure multilateral diplomacy to provide “effective responses to emerging problems “and devise “global mechanisms to address the environmental, public health, cultural and social changes presently in course.”

Impacts of climate change on most vulnerable

Pope Francis then focused on climate change and the devastation of the natural environment highlighting the Holy See’s concern for its impact on the most vulnerable.  

In this regard, he reiterated the hope he expressed in his recent address to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, COP28, that world leaders meeting in Dubai “will join in adopting concrete measures to hand on to future generations a world which more fully resembles the fruitful garden that its Creator entrusted to our care and stewardship.

“May, COP28 represent a historic step forward in responding with wisdom and foresight to these clear and present threats to the universal common good”, the Pope said, reaffirming that “the future of us all depends on the present that we now choose”.