Vatican would see U.S. Paris deal exit as slap in face - official

By Philip Pullella



June 1, 2017

U.S. President Donald Trump and Pope Francis meet at the Vatican, May 24, 2017. REUTERS/Evan Vucci/Pool

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican, which under Pope Francis' insistence has strongly backed the Paris climate change deal, would see a U.S. exit as a slap in the face and a "disaster for everyone," a senior official said on Thursday.

At their meeting last month, the pope gave U.S. President Donald Trump a signed copy of his 2015 encyclical letter that called for protecting the environment from the effects of climate change and backed scientific evidence that it is caused by human activity.