Francis and the Sultan, Revisited

 Pope Francis shakes hands with Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, President-designate of COP28  (Vatican Media)

Have you heard of how in 1219 Francis of Assisi set out from Italy to meet with a Muslim Sultan? This was during the fifth crusade and he took a tremendous risk when he crossed the battlefield between Crusader and Muslim forces near Damietta, Egypt, in the hope of meeting Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil in order to share his Christian faith. As quixotic as this may sound, the encounter was one of mutual respect. While the sultan did not relinquish his Islamic faith, he asked his Italian visitor to pray for him so that he would follow God more closely.

When I saw that Pope Francis will attend the COP28 Climate Summit which begins in Dubai later this week I was dubious (pun intended), to say the least. This conference in the host nation United Arab Emirates is already controversial because fossil fuels are a prime contributor to the climate emergency and the Presider of the event this year is Sultan Al Jaber, also the chief executive of the UAEs Abu Dhabi national oil company.

 Lots of environmentalists have decried the presence of fossil fuel companies at previous COP gatherings. Now the cat will keep watch over the pigeons. Others, though, figure that fossil fuels have brought us to the brink of destruction, so those who extract them will have to be part of addressing the crisis. 

As curious as it seems that the aged Pope Francis will attend COP28, he has put environmental issues at the top of the agenda during his papacy. Francis issued the encyclical, Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home, and recently Laudate Deum, a shorter and more urgent follow-up. I wonder if this Francis has decided to channel his namesake in meeting with the 21st century sultan? Perhaps, eight centuries after the first Francis set out on a mission of peace, these two will find a place of mutual respect and desire to make peace with the planet. This is an existential crisis for all creatures and it is imperative that humans have a conversion experience.