Climate activist met pontiff in St Peter's Square.

Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate change activist, met Pope Francis briefly following the pontiff's general audience in St Peter's Square on 17 April.

Thunberg, who held a sign reading 'Join the Climate Strike', thanked Pope Francis for "speaking so clearly about the climate crisis" and said she was encouraged by the ponfiff "to keep going."

Thunberg arrived by train into Rome's Tiburtina station, accompanied by her mother Malena Ernman, ahead of her participation in the Fridays For Future rally in Piazza del Popolo in Rome on 19 April.

Thunberg rose to international prominence last August for organising the first 'School strike for climate', also known as Fridays For Future, a global movement of school students who swap classes for demonstrations to demand action to prevent further global warming and climate change.

On 18 April she will be received by Italy's senate speaker Elisabetta Alberti Casellati for a discussion on climate and the environment.

Photo Affari Italiani