The Vatican Goes Green: Pope Francis Announces New Suburban Solar Plant to Power Vatican City

There’s no country anywhere on Earth that’s entirely powered by renewable energy every day, but that’s soon to change.

In a letter released on June 21 entitled “Brother Sun” Pope Francis announced his intention to transition Vatican City onto 100% renewable energy using solar panels.

The apostolic letter issued “motu proprio,” or on his own initiative, detailed the pontiff’s plan to use the Vatican’s multi-purpose land holdings 11 miles outside of Rome in an area called Santa Maria di Galeria.

Here, along with some agriculture, is the infrastructure needed for broadcasting Vatican Radio, and the area is large enough to accomodate enough solar panels to power the whole of the Holy See.

For many years the Pope has urged nations to take the climate crisis more seriously. In 2022, the Vatican joined the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, a global agreement among nations to address “dangerous human interference with the climate system,” but he has been more vocal individually than as the head of state of the world’s smallest country.

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“The pope identifies the burning of fossil fuels as the primary driver of climate change…” The New York Times reported in 2023. “He dismisses those who deny the crisis, and accuses wealthy individuals, corporations and countries of selfishly turning a blind eye.”

Brother Sun was released on the Solstice, a day which ironically saw rain and clouds over much of Italy, particularly the north.

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