(CU)_Recently, the Holy Father, Pope Francis, gifted a mosaic of mother and child together with an apostolic blessing to the Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland and her family. “The Holy Father Francis cordially imparts the requested Apostolic Blessing to Patricia Scotland and family, invoking through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary an abundance of Divine graces,” read the message accompanying the image.
The Secretary-General met with the Pope in Rome, to discuss the role of the Commonwealth’s climate change network in assisting small and vulnerable states in responding to the ongoing climate crisis. Speaking during her visit, Scotland warned that some of the smallest countries in the world could “disappear” if the international community fails to take necessary at action at the UN climate summit (COP26), which recently concluded in Glasgow.
Participating in an interview with AFP, the Dominica-born lawyer also described the devastating impacts of extreme weather conditions faced by some of the Commonwealth’s smallest members, including her native country. “Dominica usually looks like a Garden of Eden”, but following Hurricane Maria in 2017, “even the bark of trees had been stripped, there was not one green leaf left. It was like Armageddon,” she said.
The Secretary-General went on to note that humanity has “no choice” but to take collective action to assist poor nations in tackling climate change, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. “We are all in the same storm, but we’re definitely not all in the same boat,” she added.
