Pope Francis to Visit Dubai for COP28 Climate Conference

Pope Francis has announced that he will travel to Dubai for three days during the COP28 climate conference hosted there.He will depart for Dubai on December 1 and stay until December 3.

Pope Francis has announced that he will travel to Dubai for three days during the COP28 climate conference hosted there. The Pope made the announcement during an interview on Italian television network RAI, saying that he would depart for Dubai on December 1 and stay until December 3. Excerpts of the interview were broadcast on Wednesday evening and recorded a few hours earlier. The full hourlong interview was to be broadcast later Wednesday night.

No Details of Trip Program

Francis offered no details of his trip program, including any appearance at the conference. The travel comes about two weeks before his 87th birthday. When asked about his health — after setbacks that included abdominal surgery just a few months ago to repair a hernia and remove intestinal scarring — Francis quipped in reply in what has become his standard line — "I’m alive.”

Focus on Urgent Care for the Environment

The international climate conference begins on November 30 and runs through December 12. Francis has made the need for urgent care for the environment a hallmark priority of his papacy. The Dubai edition is the latest in a series of COP meetings on the impact of climate change and on measures by governments to deal with it, including limits on involving greenhouse-gas-producing activity. The first Conference of the Parties, as COP is formally called, was held in 1995 in Berlin, and the gathering has since been held in various cities and on different continents.

Pope Francis’s attendance at COP28 underscores the importance he places on addressing climate change. His participation in the conference is a sign of his commitment to raising awareness of the issue and encouraging world leaders to take action.