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• Pope Leo XIV held the first “green” papal Mass, featuring new prayers for the care of creation, indicating strong continuity with Pope Francis’s environmental focus.
• The Mass took place at the Vatican’s new ecological educational center in Castel Gandolfo, named after Pope Francis’s 2015 environmental encyclical, Laudato Si’.
• Pope Leo XIV, the first US-born pope and a former missionary in Peru, has emphasized climate justice, particularly for Indigenous peoples, having witnessed climate change impacts firsthand.
• He directly attributes climate change to “human activity” and criticizes “injustice, violations of international law… and greed” for fueling environmental destruction that disproportionately harms the poor and marginalized.
• The pontiff has directed the new Mass formula “for the care of creation” to be added to the official list of Masses for specific needs.
• In a major environmental commitment, Pope Leo XIV plans to proceed with the development of a 430-hectare solar farm in northern Rome.
• This solar farm aims to generate enough electricity to meet Vatican City’s needs, making it the world’s first carbon-neutral state, requiring an investment of nearly €100 million and Italian parliamentary approval.
• The solar farm project was initially tasked by Pope Francis and involves a site previously controversial due to Vatican Radio tower emissions.
• Pope Leo XIV views the solar farm as a “wonderful opportunity” to set an important example in addressing climate change and caring for creation.