Alain Berset presents Pope Francis with a weather bulletin from 1921
Published: Thursday, Nov 9th 2023, 10:50
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The President of the Swiss Confederation, Alain Berset, was received by Pope Francis for a private audience on Thursday morning. As a gift, Berset brought along a weather bulletin that is over 100 years old.
Berset presented the Pope with a copy of the weather bulletin from July 29, 1921, an unusually hot day in Geneva at the time. This is said to have inspired the Vaudois writer Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz to write his work "Présence de la mort", published in 1922.
"What was once unusual is now normal," was written on the card accompanying the gift, as reported by the Italian news agency Ansa. The Pope presented Berset with a bronze sculpture entitled "Amore sociale". The sculpture depicts a child helping another to stand up.
The audience for Berset lasted around twenty minutes. According to the Department of Home Affairs, talks on peacebuilding were the focus of the meeting.
©Keystone/SDA
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