The Pope orders the construction of a photovoltaic plant for Vatican City

Francis warned about the dangers and challenges of climate change and the need to reduce the use of fossil fuels.
Pope Francis, a supporter of action against climate change and environmental protection, ordered the construction of a photovoltaic solar park to meet the energy needs of Vatican City.
The ministate, based in Rome, houses the headquarters of the global Catholic Church and includes St. Peter’s Basilica. It is the smallest country in the world, with only 0.44 square kilometers.

Expressing his wishes in a “motu proprio,” a personal papal decree, the 87-year-old pontiff said the solar park should be built outside the Vatican walls, in Santa Maria Galeria, on the northwestern outskirts of Rome.
The area belongs to the Vatican and already houses a Vatican Radio transmission center, which will also be powered by the new solar park. The papal decree did not specify the size of the park or when it would be ready.

“We must transition to a sustainable development model that reduces greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, aiming for climate neutrality,” Francis said in the two-page document.
Francis issued a warning about the dangers and challenges of climate change and the need to reduce the use of fossil fuels in his landmark 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si” (Praise Be).

In it, he warned that the planet was “beginning to look more and more like a huge pile of dirt.”

Last year, he followed that encyclical with the apostolic exhortation “Laudate Deum” (Praise God), in which he called on climate change deniers and politicians to change their minds, saying they cannot whitewash human causes or ridicule the science while the planet “may be reaching a breaking point.”

The Pope gave the task of building the solar energy park to the cardinal who serves as governor of Vatican City State and the head of APSA, the department that manages the Vatican’s portfolio and is often described as its central bank.