Climate activist Greta Thunberg met Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square. The 16-year-old Swede held a note to the pontiff during the brief meeting after the general audience with a call for a climate strike ("Join the Climate Strike"), as pictures showed. The two shook hands.
"He was very friendly, he smiled and laughed all the time," Thunberg told the Swedish newspaper "Dagens Nyheter". "I thanked him for fighting the climate." The Pope in turn encouraged Thunberg to continue.
Thunberg had followed the general audience with her father Svante Thunberg. The young Swede shares a concern with Francis: climate protection. The adolescent became known for her school strikes, which have inspired people all over the world to take to the streets on Fridays.
"Climate protection is everyone's business"
By train Thunberg had arrived on Wednesday in the Italian capital Rome. There, among other things, a visit to the Senate and a demonstration for climate protection are on the agenda. It is not a real school strike: Good Friday is not a holiday in Italy, but in Rome the Easter holidays start on Thursday.
Prior to the visit to the Vatican, the student had received much encouragement from Germany: Several Catholic bishops are impressed by her. "I think the church must be a lawyer for the 'Fridays for Future' movement," said Hildesheim Bishop Heiner Wilmer. "Climate protection is everyone's concern, so action and words of intent must be followed by deeds, as Greta Thunberg and her fellow campaigners rightly remind policy."
Pope Francis also praised during the general audience the use of the Paris firefighters in the great fire of Notre-Dame. He thanked everyone on behalf of the entire Church who "even risked their lives" to save the cathedral. The destruction would have "very sad" him.
In the video: Climate rebel Greta Thunberg
MIRROR TV