The Vatican will host executives of the world's top oil companies for a conference next week on climate change and the transition away from fossil fuels, a Vatican source said on June 1.

Pope Francis, who wrote a major document on protection of the environment from global warming in 2015, is expected to address the group on the last day of the June 8-9 conference.

The conference, organized by the University of Notre Dame, is expected to be attended by the heads or senior executives of companies including ExxonMobil, Eni, BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Pemex, the source said.

The chief executive officers of ExxonMobil, BP and Norway's Equinor will attend the event, the companies confirmed. Shell declined to comment.

Companies are betting on increased demand for gas, the least polluting fossil fuel, and to a lesser extent on renewable power such as wind and solar, to meet global targets of net zero emissions by the end of the century.

"We're hopeful that this kind of dialogue can help develop solutions to the dual challenge of managing the risks of climate change while meeting growing demand for energy, which is critical to alleviating poverty and raising living standards in the developing world," ExxonMobil spokesman Scott Silvestri said.

The conference, titled "Energy Transition and Care for Our Common Home," will be held in the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, a 16th century villa in the Vatican gardens known as the Casina Pio IV.

Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the Vatican's department on promoting human development and a firm backer of the need to stem global warming, will address the group, the source said.

News of the conference was first reported by the Axios news service.