Pope Francis waves to the crowd at the University of Nairobi as he arrives to deliver a giant open-air mass on November 26, 2015. (AFP)
It would be "catastrophic" if vested interests were to prevent world leaders from reaching agreement on curbing global warming at the upcoming UN climate conference in Paris, Pope Francis said today.
"In a few days an important meeting on climate change will be held in Paris. It would be sad, and I dare say even catastrophic, were particular interests to prevail over the common good and lead to manipulating information in order to protect their own plans and projects," he said ahead of the summit which officially starts on Monday, in a speech at the world headquarters of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.