WWF delegation attends Pope's general audience | WPN World People News

WWF, led by Yolanda Kakabadse, President of WWF International, accompanied by Donatella Bianchi, President of WWF-Italy and Carter Roberts, President and CEO of WWF-US, attended the Pope’s general audience at the Vatican this morning. They also briefly met Pope Francis during the reserved baciamano ceremony that followed the Audience.

On the occasion of meeting his Holiness Pope Francis for the first time, Yolanda Kakabadse said, “It is with great emotion that we met the pope briefly on 10 February. I expressed our gratitude on behalf of WWF and myself for the extraordinary Encyclical where he called us all to action for the Care of our Common Home. Indeed a call for all people of good will to create bridges between individuals, communities, business and governments. The outstanding result of the COP21 climate agreement demonstrates this perfectly. We hope that this inspiration and that given by other religions too, will continue to create opportunities for cooperation, solidarity and action.”

WWF believes that by linking poverty, overconsumption and environmental destruction, the Encyclical provides an unprecedented moral call to the world to act on behalf of future generations to prevent growing inequality and catastrophic climate change. Pope Francis’ message added a much needed moral approach to the climate debate, which is increasingly a moral and ethical issue. The Encyclical was closely followed by expressions of solidarity from representatives of other faiths from all over the world.

Kakabadse went on to say: “Most religions view humans as the caretakers of the natural world. And in this spirit, taking care of the environment is a moral duty. WWF, as an environmental organization, is moved by the same impulse to have a world in which human beings can live in harmony, both among themselves and with nature, with equity and solidarity.

Source: World Wildlife Fund