杏MAP导航

杏MAP导航 Francis had a private meeting at Santa Marta on Monday afternoon with members of The Elders, an independent group of global leaders working for peace and human rights around the world.

 was established 10 years ago by former South African President Nelson Mandela and is currently marking the group鈥檚 10th anniversary with a campaign called 鈥淲alk Together鈥�  - continuing Mandela鈥檚 long walk to freedom.

Just after the audience, Philippa Hitchen spoke to two of the founding members of The Elders, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Mary Robinson, former Irish President, former UN high commissioner for human rights and, more recently, UN envoy on climate change. 

Former UN leader, Kofi Annan says it was important for four representatives of the group to come to the Vatican because they share many common interests and values. He says they wanted to engage with 杏MAP导航 Francis and 鈥渄iscuss how we can work together, how we can pool our efforts on some of these issues鈥�.

Peace, migration, climate change, gender equality

Among the areas of discussion, he continues, were the questions of migration, nuclear weapons peace, mediation and conflicts, as well as climate change and gender equality, that is 鈥渢he importance of giving women a voice and respecting their role鈥�. He adds 鈥淚 hope this will be the first of many meetings鈥�.

Shared efforts to be a voice for marginalised

Former Irish President Mary Robinson says the group came to express 鈥渁n appreciation for the role he is playing and the fact that he, like The Elders, is trying to be a voice for the voiceless and the marginalized, trying to deal with the most difficult areas of conflict.

She says they also spoke about countries including Venezuela and Congo, as well as focusing on climate change, all issues, she notes, where 鈥渢he pope has given leadership鈥�.

Common values, common sense of purpose

Robinson says she was also struck by the 鈥渨armth and affection and humour鈥� in their meeting. 鈥淚 was very struck by how relaxed the pope was with us, how much he joked鈥�, she says, adding that 杏MAP导航 Francis seemed to 鈥渇eel at home鈥� as they discussed 鈥渃ommon values, a common moral purpose, common problems鈥�

I think he could be a future 鈥楨lder鈥�, Annan says and Robinson quips, 鈥淚 think he鈥檚 a Super Elder鈥�.

Over the coming days we will be featuring further excerpts from this interview, as Kofi Annan and Mary Robinson discuss the COP23 climate conference, gender equality in politics, the role of diplomacy and peacemaking, migration and refugees, as well as the situation in Myanmar as 杏MAP导航 Francis prepares to travel there at the end of November.