The Pope is being offered $1m to go vegan this Lent as part of a new global campaign launched on the back of Veganuary. 

The generous offer is being made by a sister campaign of Veganuary, the campaign that invites people to go vegan for the month of January.

After a quarter of a million people took part in Veganuary, Pope Francis is being offered $1m to give to the charity of his choice if he pledges to adopt a plant-based diet this Lent. 

Lent 2019 starts on March 6 and ends on April 18.  It is a time when Christians around the world will be giving up some of their favourite things, like coffee or chocolate, as they solemnly reflect and repent in preparation for Easter. 

The Pope is being asked to go vegan for Lent as part of the Million Dollar Vegan campaign after speaking passionately on issues like world hunger, global warming, deforestation and biodiversity loss.

The campaign, the brainchild of Veganuary co-founder Matthew Glover, wants him to add one more to the list - animal agriculture, which it claims is 'rapidly driving these issues'. 

'We are launching this deliberately bold, audacious campaign to jolt our world leaders from their complacency,' he said.

'For too long they have failed to act on evidence of the damage caused to people and the planet by animal agriculture.

'Worse, many have defended and subsidised that very industry. But the evidence now is stark and compelling, and we cannot afford for them to remain silent any longer.

'We are thankful that Pope Francis has spoken out on these issues and that is why we are humbly asking him to try vegan for Lent, and set an example of how each of us can align our principles of caring and compassion with our actions.'

The invitation has been extended to the Pope through a new petition launched on Change.org which is well on its way to reaching its goal of 50,000 signatures, having been so far been signed by over 38,000 people. 

The petition asks the Pope 'to help us fight climate change with diet change'. 

A vegan 'starter kit' is available from the Million Dollar Vegan website for others interested in going vegan for Lent.