Pope Francis received Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director of the World Health Organization (WHO ), in a private audience at the Vatican on 24 July.
The Vatican has not provided further information about the meeting although it was on the Pope’s official agenda. Only official photographs of the meeting have been released by the Holy See.
This is the second time that Pope Francis has met with Ghebreyesus, born in Ethiopia and declared an Orthodox Christian. The first hearing took place in 2018, prior to the arrival of the covid-19 pandemic.
The WHO director was the Organization’s main spokesman during the pandemic years, promoting the distribution of millions of doses of vaccines in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus, a position also taken by the Vatican.