In Good Season

ECOLOGY PROJECT LAUNCHED BY THE VATICAN

This year's 'Season of Creation'(1st Sept - 4th October) celebrates both the 800th anniversary of Saint Francis' 'Canticle of Creation' and the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis' encyclical 'Laudato si' so what better time for the Vatican to announce the opening of a 'care for the earth' project based on the legacy of the late Pope?

On 5th September 2025, Pope Leo XIV returned to Castel Gondolfo, the historical papal residence in a small hamlet in the Italian countryside southeast of Rome, to open the Borgo Laudato Si - a new inspiring Vatican-run ecological training facility. Spread across 135 acres, the papal property, newly opened to the public, where Pope Leo XIV recently held a mass 'for the care of creation' includes historic gardens, villas, monuments and archaeological sites, alongside greenhouses, organic farming, regenerative cultivation and the Laudato Si Higher Education Centre, offering training from a range of topics from gardening to livestock care.

A Borgo spokesperson described it as being "A unique setting where spirituality, education and sustainability come together, offering an open and welcoming space for formation, prayer, reflection and deeper communion with God and creation ... creating a model where the care of creation and the defence of human dignity ... are not only taught but lived, rooted in the Gospel and open to all."

Tenor Andrea Bocelli and his son Matteo sang at the prayer service and official 'opening' of the centre, after which guests were invited to walk around the grounds, farmland and new training facilities. Visitors could also purchase local agricultural products, including wine grown from vineyards on the Vatican grounds, organic olive oil, and cheese made from the 60 cows living on the site!

In a message for the World Day of Prayer for Creation on 1st September 2025 Pope Leo XIV wrote that care of creation is "A duty born of faith, since the universe reflects the face of Jesus Christ, in whom all things were created and redeemed. In a world where the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters are the first to suffer the devastating effects of climate change, deforestation and pollution, care for creation becomes an expression of our faith and humanity. Now is the time to follow words with deeds."

Rev. Manuel Dorantes, a priest directing the centre, said the Vatican wants to set an example for how all countries should pursue environmental initiatives,

"If we, the smallest city-state in the world, can do this, what is the potential for other states that are bigger than us?" he said. "Our world can be different if we work together."

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Footnote: Back in the Vatican, on 11th and 12th September 2025 Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, will open an international seminar called 'Creation, Nature, Environment for World Peace' . For more information click HERE.

Pics credit: Borgo Laudato Si