Pope Francis intends to make his first visit to Scotland later this year to address world leaders at the COP26 climate change summit.

He would be the first pontiff to visit Scotland in over a decade.

The conference is being held in the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) Centre, Glasgow from November 1 - November 12. 

This news was announced by John Kerry, President Biden's climate change envoy, who met with the Pope yesterday.

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In a video published by Vatican News he said: "Well the Pope is one of the great voices of reason and compelling moral authority on the subject of the climate crisis.

"He's been ahead of the curve, he's been a leader, his encyclical, Laudato si' is really very, very powerful document eloquent and morally very persuasive.

"I think that his voice will be a very important voice leading up to and through the Glasgow conference which I believe he intends to, hopefully, intends to attend."

It comes as we reported that the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland is understood to have been told to prepare for the possibility of a papal visit at the time of the COP26 climate gathering in November.