The Gospel needs to be heard today!
Stand with us in this mission.
On September 5, 2025, Pope Leo XIV inaugurated the Borgo Laudato Si’ at Castel Gandolfo, presenting the Vatican’s eco-village as a “seed of hope” and a concrete school for integral ecology. Touring the grounds by electric cart, he greeted gardeners, families, and trainees before leading a Liturgy of the Word in the Borgo’s circular, solar-powered greenhouse and blessing the site.
The Borgo spans roughly 135 acres (about 55 hectares) across the Papal Villas—35 hectares of gardens and 20 of farmland—home to more than 3,000 plants from 300 species. First envisioned under Pope Francis, the project brings education, dignified work, and environmental care under one roof for pilgrims, students, and professionals.
In his remarks, Pope Leo linked the Gospel to a universal human calling: “Every creature has an important and specific role in God’s design… We are creatures among creatures, not creators.” He urged participants to see care for creation as a real vocation—demanding, beautiful, and within reach of daily life.
The afternoon combined teaching with small, telling gestures. The Pope paused at a koi pond to feed the fish, greeted farm workers among vines and olive trees, and petted horses and calves—signs that the Borgo’s “integral” vision embraces both people and the living world. Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and his son, Matteo, offered music during the liturgy.
At the heart of the project is a Higher Education Center dedicated to sustainable farming, circular economy practices, and leadership formation. Programs involve and uplift vulnerable groups—refugees, the unemployed, and those in recovery—through hands-on training in viticulture, olive oil, cheesemaking, and regenerative agriculture. The estate aims for near zero-waste with solar energy, water-recovery systems, and a plastics ban.
Cardinal Fabio Baggio directs the Borgo, while Fr. Manuel Dorantes (a priest from the Archdiocese of Chicago) helps lead the academic component—evidence of a project that bridges Vatican heritage with global expertise. The initiative takes its name and inspiration from Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ and expands themes later underlined in Laudate Deum (2023).
For Catholics, the vision resonates with the Catechism’s teaching that “the seventh commandment enjoins respect for the integrity of creation” (CCC 2415). Yet the Borgo’s welcome is broader than any single community: visitors of all backgrounds are invited to learn, pray, and practice new habits of stewardship—“contemplating creation” while cultivating skills that serve the common good.
What emerges at Castel Gandolfo is not a museum piece but a living campus: gardens, orchards, and green tech woven together with prayer, work, and hospitality. Or as Pope Leo put it, a synthesis “where spirituality, daily life, and technology dwell together in harmony”—a place meant to convert hearts and habits, one attentive encounter at a time.
