Sadiq Khan gave the Pope a gift of London tea when they met at the Vatican on Thursday.
The mayor of London was in the Vatican for an audience with the Holy Father on Thursday morning, ahead of an afternoon speech that will highlight his efforts to place the capital in the “vanguard” of world cities seeking to tackle climate change.
He presented Pope Francis with a “gift book” of four teas, from the London Tea Exchange.
Mr Khan, speaking to the Evening Standard, said: “It’s a privilege and an honour to be invited by His Holiness the Pope to his home in Vatican city. I feel blessed.”
He added: “This is the most nervous I have been for some time. I’m not normally nervous but I didn’t sleep at all last night.
“I’m excited, I’m nervous, it’s a huge privilege – I recognise there are more than a million Londoners of Catholic faith who would give their right arm to spend time with His Holiness. He has invited me and that is a big responsibility for me.”
Mr Khan, as co-chair of the C40 group of almost 100 world cities committed to addressing the climate emergency, will lead a delegation of nine mayors at the 90-minute audience with Pope Francis.
Prior to flying to Rome, Mr Khan spoke with the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who asked him to send his “love, respect and prayers, from more than a million Catholics in London” to the Pope.
Pope Francis asked Mr Khan to speak about “leadership in the age of climate change”. This will include references to London having the biggest electric bus fleet in western Europe – about 1,400 buses – the quadrupling of the length of cycle lanes and establishing the Ulez as the “world’s largest clean air zone”.
Mr Khan will not be giving the Pope a sneak preview of the long-awaited air quality data from the Londonwide Ulez extension. “Unfortunately I can’t share with him the six-month review because I have not seen it yet,” he said.
In his speech, Mr Khan will describe the Ulez as “the toughest challenge I’ve faced in the 30 years I’ve held public office”.
He will hail his re-election a fortnight ago as a “landslide” victory – the first time he has used that term to describe the 275,000-vote majority over Tory candidate Susan Hall.
“That’s how others have said it to me over the last 24 hours – the mayors of Paris, Rome, Boston, Athens, Santiago,” Mr Khan said.
“That is the language they are using. If it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me. They must read the Evening Standard as they have seen the margin of victory.”
Mr Khan will vow to “double down” on green policies – but will not go further than what he promised in his manifesto.
“No, it’s the boldest manifesto, I would argue, in the history of winning candidates – it’s as bold as it can be. There is no need to go any further than that.
“It’s quite clear London chose green action. It demonstrates that having green policies is not simply good for the environment, it’s good electorally.
“The phrase I’m going to use is: we shouldn’t be backing down, we should be doubling down when it comes to taking action to address the climate emergency and also clean the air.”
When he was first elected in 2016, he became the first Muslim mayor of Western city. Mr Khan will thank the Pope for welcoming his victory as a positive sign of integration.
Mr Khan recalled: “His Holiness the Pope – the leader of the Catholic faith – welcomed my leadership. He used the phrase: ‘It shows that Islam can integrate with Europe’.
“When I meet with him, I will be expressing my gratitude for his warm words in 2016. I will be sharing with him the teachings of Islam, which are very similar to some of the teachings of the Catholic faith and the Bible.
“One of the quotes in my speech is from Islam, where it is said: ‘The earth is green and beautiful, and Allah has appointed us stewards over it.’”
He added: “I think we should be really proud we have got this world platform – one of the greatest leaders we have had in the 21st century talking about the climate emergency and the need for action and bringing different mayors into his home.
“He is a leader to those of us from other faiths as well. I think it’s a good example of how different faiths collaborating can be a catalyst for action and unity.”
