The ninth man to lead the UN in its 71-year history has drawn opposition from gay rights and women's groups.

Guterres will replace Ban Ki-moon when he retires at the end of December.

The devout Catholic is against abortion, marriage equality and gay rights.

In 1995 he described homosexuality as "a mental disorder".

International gay rights organisations opposed Guterres's candidacy for the key position.

Gay activists in the US are calling on President Barack Obama to veto Guterres's appointment to the UN Security Council.

Australian women's groups are also speaking out about the appointment.

"It is outrageous that after 70 years, and vocal lobbying from women around the world saying that the next appointment must be a woman, that the UN is saying there is not a single woman on the planet capable of doing the job," Australia-based International Women's Development Agency chief Jo Hayter said.

"If we have a person sitting in this position who is not comfortable with women's choice, we have a leader from the past, not a visionary for the future."

International aid and development agencies are concerned the global push for women's rights and marriage equality could lose momentum under Guterres's leadership.

Portugal legalised abortion in 2007 after a national referendum.

State support for birth control was curtailed by the parliament in January this year.

Four women, including former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark, were in the running for the top UN job that has never been given to a woman.

The former Portuguese prime minister and president held the post of the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 to 2015.

Source

• The New Daily
• Image: www.un.org

Vatican officials made this announcement on April 28 at a one-day Rome summit on climate change.

According to a report on the Crux website, the President of the Pontifical Academy for Sciences, Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, told the gathering: "The Pope said this morning that it's finished."

The encyclical will be divided into two parts, the bishop said.

Firstly , what Christianity calls "revelation", which he defined as the idea that man is the steward of creation.

Secondly, the natural sciences, combining faith and reason.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the summit the encyclical is one of three factors that could turn 2015 into a critical year in the fight against climate change and global warming.

The other two, he said, are the signing of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals this September, and an international summit in Paris in December designed to achieve a global climate agreement.

At the invitation of Mr Ban, Francis will open the UN Special General Assembly on September 25, with more than 193 heads of state scheduled to be in attendance.

"We have an unprecedented opportunity to articulate — and create — a more sustainable future and a life of dignity for all," Mr Ban said.

Titled "Protect the earth, protect humanity," Tuesday's one-day conference was designed to produce a joint statement on "the moral and religious imperative of dealing with climate change in the context of sustainable development".

The conference's final statement declared that: "Human-induced climate change is a scientific reality, and its decisive mitigation is a moral and religious imperative for humanity."

During the conference, the Vatican's science academy challenged politicians to end their "infatuation" with a form of economic growth that is ruining the Earth.

The academy said that nations were measuring their wealth by Gross Domestic Product, taking no account of the harm caused by business practises.

Before the summit, a climate change contrarian group urged the Pope to listen to both sides of the debate and not to take sides in politics.

Sources

• Crux
• BBC
• National Catholic Reporter
• New York Times
• Image: Ecodaily

In Rome, Ban Ki-moon hailed the personal commitment by Pope Francis to eradicating poverty and promoting sustainable development.

Mr Ban and heads of major UN agencies had been meeting for two days in Rome, and they had an audience with the Pontiff on May 9.

"Across the UN agenda, I see the need for calm, compassion, cooperation and courage," Mr Ban said to Pope Francis.

"Your papacy embodies these principles and has inspired people in all regions and from all backgrounds, he added.

Mr Ban invited the Pope to visit UN Headquarters in New York.

"That would continue a tradition of papal visits - and be an opportunity for you to speak of your vision for our common future."

In his speech to Mr Ban and UN officials, Pope Francis called for the United Nations to promote a "worldwide ethical mobilisation" of solidarity with the poor in a new spirit of generosity.

He said a more equal form of economic progress can be had through "the legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the state, as well as indispensable cooperation between the private sector and civil society".

Francis voiced a similar message to the World Economic Forum in January and in his apostolic exhortation "The Joy of the Gospel".

The Pope also said charity and justice should be based on "an awareness of the dignity of each of our brothers and sisters, whose life is sacred and inviolable from conception to natural death".

The UN must challenge injustice and oppose the "‘economy of exclusion', the ‘throwaway culture' and the ‘culture of death' which nowadays sadly risk becoming passively accepted", Francis added.

A few days before the audience, Vatican officials had faced a two-day grilling in Geneva by the UN committee against torture.

Some UN representatives had argued that child sexual abuse amounted to torture.

But the Pope did not mention the subject during the Rome audience, instead focusing on working for greater equality and the eradication of poverty.

Sources

• The Tablet
• United Nations
• New York Daily News
• Image: New York Daily News

"He is a voice for the voiceless. I look forward to continuing our conversation," Ban said, adding that he had invited the Pope to visit the UN "at his earliest convenience".

The secretary general said he told the Holy Father that his decision to choose his name after St Francis of Assisi was a "powerful image for the many goals and purposes shared by the United Nations".

"He speaks loudly of his commitment to the poor, he has a deep sense of humility, his passion and compassion to improve the human condition," Ban said.

"I was especially privileged to meet Pope Francis as we mark 1000 days to the deadline to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). We discussed the need to advance social justice and accelerate work to meet with the MDGs. This is vital if we are to meet the Millennium promise to the world's poorest"

The secretary general also praised the Pope's commitment in advancing inter-religious dialogue among the communities of faith. The appreciation of shared values, he continued, would "lead to tolerance, inclusion and peace".

"This is the driving force of the UN's ‘Alliance of civilisations' initiative and I greatly appreciated the opportunity to speak with Pope Francis about furthering this work," Ban said.

According to a communique released by the Holy See, matters discussed by the Pope and secretary general included situations of conflict and serious humanitarian emergency, especially in Syria and other places such as the Korean peninsula and the African continent, as well as problems regarding human trafficking, particularly that of women, migrants and refugees.

The communiqué said the Pope "recalled the Catholic Church's contribution, beginning with her identity and through the means proper to her, in support of the entirety of human dignity and in promoting a Culture of Encounter that helps to realise the UN's highest institutional goals".

Sources:

Zenit

Zenit

Image: Christian Today