Pope at G7 Summit!
Bari, Italy, June 14 (EFE).-
Pope Francis made history Friday as the first pontiff to participate in a G7 summit, this year in the Italian region of Puglia, where he will meet with leaders such as the United States’ Joe Biden and Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
He landed by helicopter at 12.10pm local time (10:10 GMT) on the golf course of the Borgo Egnazia hotel, where the summit is taking place, and walked off the rotorcraft despite his mobility problems, although with effort.
There he was received by Italy’s Prime Minister and summit host Giorgia Meloni, who accompanied him in a golf cart to where the leaders of the G7 (Germany, Canada, United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom) are meeting.
Meloni considered the first participation of a pontiff in a G7 “historical.”
In this edition of the summit, leaders from other countries have also been invited, such as Lula, in Brazil’s capacity as acting president of the G20, and Argentina’s libertarian Javier Milei, personally invited by the far-right Meloni.
All have been invited to participate in a session dedicated to Artificial Intelligence, on which the pope himself is expected to make an address, and also about energy and the situation in Africa and the Mediterranean.
In recent statements, the pontiff has voiced his intention to also talk about peace.
He will hold 10 bilateral meetings, including with Lula, with whom he maintains a well-known rapport, however there is no indication of a private meeting with his compatriot Milei.
The pope will also meet with Biden, the second Catholic in the White House after John F. Kennedy, and with the Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who went to the G7 to obtain a loan of $50 billion financed from frozen Russian assets.
The pope’s agenda will see other bilateral meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi, Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Kenyan President William Ruto, and with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.
He is scheduled to return to the Vatican at 7.45pm (17:45 GMT) on Friday. EFE
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