POPE FRANCIS MEETS THE VIRUNGA CHOCOLATE TEAM

At Virunga Chocolate, we feel blessed to have been able to develop a social project that can improve the livelihoods of the farmers and communities bordering the Virunga National Park, in the DRC. African and European consumers have been supporting this project and helping us to make it a success!

Since yesterday, it's more than just a feeling. His Holiness Pope Francis received the chocolatier Dominique Persoone and Dimitri Moreels, CEO of Envirium Life Sciences during his weekly General Audience in St. Peter's Square. The complete assortment was offered to the Pope: "Pope Francis was very interested in the development of this social company and the impact it can have on the livelihood of the Virunga people and on the region's security. We thanked him for his constant work to promote peace in the North Kivu region and asked him to pursue his efforts. We are confident that our employees, workers and partners on site will consider this meeting as a message of hope", says Dimitri Moreels.

We are grateful to H.E. Patrick Renault, Ambassador of Belgium to the Holy See, for making this moment happen. This was part of the "Chocolate... and beyond" seminar organized in Rome by the Belgian Permanent Representation to the Rome based United Nations Agencies and the Belgian Embassy to the Holy See, with the support of the EU Delegation. This seminar brought together in Rome entrepreneurs and stakeholders working in the cocoa sector under the topic "Towards more value chains in the cocoa sector".

👉 Want to taste our exquisite Virunga Chocolate? ✅ Order it on https://origins.virunga.org/collections/chocolate All profits are reinvested into the conservation of the Virunga Park and the surrounding communities. Besides the pleasure of tasting, each bite helps create more value for the farmers, the rangers and the gorillas. That’s what why we call it Double Happiness Bean-to-Bar Chocolate!