On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly international news dispatchPope Leo XIV has inaugurated a significant environmental project at the Vatican’s summer retreat, marking a practical step in bringing Pope Francis’s ecological teachings to life. On Friday, the pontiff engaged directly with the initiative, feeding fish, petting horses, and visiting organic vineyards.Named Borgo Laudato Si, the 55-acre site in Castel Gandolfo is envisioned as a utopian experiment in sustainable farming, vocational training, and environmental education. The Vatican hopes this ambitious centre, open to student groups and business leaders, will serve as a global model for ecological stewardship, education, and spiritual practice for the Church and beyond.Pope Leo arrived by helicopter, then toured the estate’s cypress-lined gardens in an electric golf cart to reach the centre. Named for Pope Francis’s landmark 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si,” or Praised Be, the document inspired a church-wide movement, framing care for the planet as an urgent moral concern tied to human dignity and justice, especially for the poor.Pope Leo has consistently reinforced Pope Francis’s emphasis on safeguarding God’s creation. open image in galleryItaly Pope (Filippo Monteforte, Pool via AP)Earlier this summer, he celebrated the estate’s first “green” Mass, incorporating new prayers inspired by the encyclical. Friday’s inauguration, approximately a decade after “Laudato Si” was published, saw Pope Leo preside over a liturgy to bless the new centre following a tour of its gardens, farm, and classrooms.Leo recalled that according to the Bible, human beings have a special place in the act of creation, created in the “image and likeness of God.”“But this privilege comes with a great responsibility: that of caring for all other creatures, in accordance with the creator’s plan,” he said. “Care for creation, therefore, represents a true vocation for every human being, a commitment to be carried out within creation itself, without ever forgetting that we are creatures among creatures, and not creators.”A greenhouse inspired by St. Peter’s Square open image in galleryItaly Pope (Filippo Monteforte, Pool via AP)Leo spoke from the heart of the project: a huge greenhouse in the same curved, embracing shape as the colonnade of St. Peter’s Square that faces a 10-room educational facility and dining hall. Once it’s up and running, visiting groups can come for an afternoon school trip to learn about organic farming, or a week-long course on regenerative agriculture.The centre aims to accomplish many of the goals of the environmental cause. Solar panels provide all the power the facility needs, plastics are banned and recycling and composting systems used to reach zero-waste. Officials say water will be conserved and maximised via “smart irrigation” systems that use artificial intelligence to determine plants’ needs, along with rainwater harvesting and the installation of wastewater treatment and reuse systems.There is a social component as well. The Vatican’s first-ever vocational school on the grounds will aim to provide on-site training in sustainable gardening, organic winemaking and olive harvesting to offer new job opportunities for particularly vulnerable groups: victims of domestic violence, refugees, recovering addicts and rehabilitated prisoners. open image in galleryItaly Pope (Filippo Monteforte, Pool via AP)The products made will be sold on-site, with profits re-invested in the educational centre: Laudato Si wine, organic olive oil, herbal teas from the farm’s aromatic garden and cheese made from its 60 dairy cows, continuing a tradition of agricultural production that for centuries have subsidised monasteries and convents.While school groups are a core target audience, organisers also want to invite CEOs and professionals for executive education seminars, to sensitise the world of business to the need for sustainable economic growth.Officials declined to discuss the financing of the project, other than to say an undisclosed number of partners had invested in it and that confidential business plans precluded the Vatican from releasing further information.
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Pope feeds fish as he explores the Vatican’s new eco-friendly farm
