A bold step ♻️

Earlier this month, Pope Leo announced the opening of a Vatican-run ecological training center on 55 hectares of land near Rome.

Named Borgo Laudato Si’, the project embodies the Catholic Church’s growing commitment to environmental stewardship, rooted in Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’. The site will feature gardens, a greenhouse, and a teaching farm, along with vineyards and olive groves designed to practice and showcase sustainable agriculture. It is not simply symbolic: the center aims to serve as a living laboratory where ecological awareness, faith, and community intersect.

In other words, also the Vatican is taking more steps towards environmental policy than other countries or leaders.

Faith and climate action

The Vatican’s move comes at a time of mounting climate pressures: record heatwaves across Europe, devastating wildfires, and growing concerns over food and water security. In this context, Borgo Laudato Si’ offers a narrative of hope.

Religious institutions, with their wide reach and authority, can mobilize millions around shared principles of care, responsibility, and justice.

What makes this initiative particularly powerful is its holistic approach. The project will not only teach practical ecological practices—organic farming, biodiversity preservation, renewable energy—but also integrate these into spiritual and ethical reflection.

A model

The implications of the Vatican’s ecological training center extend well beyond Rome.

By investing in education, community participation, and sustainable production, Pope Leo is positioning the Catholic Church as a global actor in the climate movement. Other religious groups and secular institutions may follow suit, creating similar hubs of ecological innovation tied to their cultural or ethical frameworks.

While governments negotiate emissions targets and businesses grapple with green transitions, initiatives like Borgo Laudato Si’ remind us that lasting change also depends on cultural imagination and moral commitment.

The Vatican’s effort is a reminder that climate action is not only about technology and policy—it is also about meaning, purpose, and the way communities envision their future.

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