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Vegan activist Genesis Butler has secured a meeting with a senior priest at the Vatican.
The 12-year-old advocate traveled to Rome from her Los Angeles home in a bid to meet Pope Francis. Butler’s journey is part of the Million Dollar Vegan campaign, which has offered a $1,000,000 donation to a charity of the pope’s choice, if he ditches animal products during the religious observance.
Butler has taken a petition, which has received more than 55,000 signatures calling on Pope Francis to try vegan for Lent, with her to Vatican City. While she has not yet managed to organize a meeting with the pope, she hopes to hand over the petition as or when she does.
Vegan campaign
“I hope Pope Francis will meet with me during my trip to the Vatican so I can talk to him in person about why this campaign is so important to me and to the planet, and so that I can hand him the thousands of signatures from people around the world who are joining me in asking him to try vegan for Lent,” Butler said in a statement sent to Plant Based News.
“Animal farming is one of the leading causes of global warming, and by choosing to eat a plant-based diet we could reduce the harm we cause to the planet, to animals, and to people.
“I would really love to hear from Pope Francis about my plea for him to go vegan for Lent because we need His Holiness to set an example to the world that we must act now to stop climate change and help prevent animal suffering.”
Million Dollar Vegan is encouraging people of all backgrounds to try vegan for Lent and has produced a Vegan Starter Kit – written in multiple languages and with country-specific content – which is available to download for free here
