In Pics: Merkel Pays Farewell Visit to Pope Francis at Vatican

Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Pope Francis, Thursday, during a farewell visit to the Vatican and Italy, and they discussed climate change.

Merkel asserted that the response to climate change would require a radical change in how people live

Francis in addition to other religious leaders made a joint appeal on Monday for next month’s U.N. Climate Change Conference COP26 to offer concrete solutions to save the planet from “an unprecedented ecological crisis”.

On her part, Merkel praised the pope’s position.

“Humanity’s response to climate change will require a radical change in our way of living,” she told reporters.

The pair, who have met several times before, also discussed biopersity, the future of the European Union, world conflicts and sexual abuse in the Church. They spoke privately in the papal library of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace for about 45 minutes.

In an interview with a Spanish radio network last month, Francis called Merkel, who has led Germany for 16 years, “one of the world’s greatest political figures”.

Before seeing the pope, she met German Jesuit Father Hans Zollner and others at the new offices of the Pontifical Gregorian University’s programme to prevent sexual abuse.

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