Mié, 8 de noviembre de 2023
The President of the Swiss Confederation, Alain Berset, will be received by Pope Francis for a private audience at the Vatican on Thursday (November 9). One of the topics of the meeting will be the promotion of peace.
Berset and the Pope want to discuss how Switzerland and the Vatican could best support peace efforts, for example in Colombia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA) wrote on Tuesday. The exchange follows on from talks between Berset and church representatives in the two countries.
According to Berset’s department, another important topic is the investigation into cases of abuse within the Roman Catholic Church in Switzerland. Berset and the Pope also want to talk about the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine as well as the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai.
The visit of the President of the Swiss Confederation to the Pope is a tradition and was actually planned for May, a spokesperson for the FDHA told the Keystone-SDA news agency on request. However, the visit had to be postponed due to the coronation of Charles III in London. Berset will be received by the Pope for a private audience.
Berset will also pay the traditional visit to the Pontifical Swiss Guard and meet Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, the spokesperson added. According to the Italian news agency Ansa, Francis and Berset will meet at the apostolic palace on Thursday morning.
This is not Berset’s first meeting with Francis. Back in 2018, Berset’s first year as President of the Swiss Confederation, he visited the Pope. In the same year, Berset met the Pope during his trip to Switzerland in Geneva.
In May 2015, Berset – not as President of the Swiss Confederation – attended the swearing-in ceremony for the new Swiss Guards. Before the swearing-in ceremony, Pope Francis greeted Berset personally after the general audience in St. Peter’s Square. Pictures showed a delighted Federal Councillor shaking the Pope’s hand in glorious weather.
According to the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), Switzerland and the Vatican have maintained close relations for centuries. There has been a permanent Swiss embassy to the Holy See since October 2021. The then President of the Swiss Confederation Ignazio Cassis formally inaugurated it in May 2022.
After his visit to the Holy See, Berset will travel on to Paris, where he will attend the 42nd General Assembly of Unesco. The event is linked to the Paris Peace Forum, which is attended by around twenty heads of state and government. Leaders of international organizations and foreign ministers will also be present.
Berset will speak on the topic of “Building peace for a safer world”, the FDHA wrote. Climate protection, global inequalities and the need for trustworthy digitalization will also be discussed.
The “One Planet Polar Summit” will be held under the umbrella of the Peace Forum. The “Paris Appeal” is to be adopted at this summit on the protection of glaciers and polar regions. The signatory states commit to international cooperation, research and measures to protect the cryosphere. It is planned that Berset will also sign the appeal.
©Keystone/SDA
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