At 12.30 today, the Holy Father Francis received in audience Mme. Henryane de Chaponay, from Paris, founder of the Centre d’Étude du développement en Amérique latine (CEDAL).

The following are the words of greeting pronounced by the Holy Father during the encounter:

Greeting of the Holy Father

Madame, dear friends,

I am glad to welcome you this morning, to greet you and to pay homage to your effort in the service of peace, the defence of human rights, the protection of our earth and support for the growth of a more human and fraternal society.

Madame, I appreciate your mission as the founder of the Centre d’Étude du développement en Amérique latine (CEDAL). Your tireless creativity has borne fruit through the “Dialogues en humanité”, whose meetings are intended to refocus politics on humanity, to construct a citizenship that cares for the “common home”. It is good to inspire an art of living together in simplicity, benevolence, fraternity, as well as to educate in the culture of respect and encounter, the only one capable of building a future that rises up to the ideal of man.

With the encyclical Laudato si’, with various messages, convoking the next Synod of Bishops on Amazonia, my hope is that our human history may become a flowering of liberation, growth, salvation and love (cf. Encyclical Laudato si’, 79). As I express to you all my appreciation for your generosity and your dedication, I assure you of my prayer and I bless you from the heart.