Why has Pope Leo started a new ‘green Mass' tradition?
The Mass, in the gardens of the Vatican's new ecological educational centre at the papal summer estate in Castel Gandolfo, indicated a strong line of ecological continuity with Pope Francis, who made environmental protection a hallmark of his pontificate.
The private Mass was celebrated for the Laudato Si centre, named for Francis' 2015 environmental encyclical, in which the first pope from the Global South blasted the way wealthy countries and multinational corporations had exploited the Earth and its most vulnerable people for profit.
Leo approved the new Mass formula 'for the care of creation,' directing it to be added to the list of 49 Masses that have been developed over centuries for a specific need or occasion. Mass is the central act of worship in Catholicism, recalling Jesus's actions at the Last Supper.
Officials said it was crafted in response to requests stemming from Francis' encyclical, which has inspired a whole church movement and foundation to educate, advocate and sensitise the world to the biblically mandated call to care for nature.
What has Pope Leo said about climate change?
Leo, history's first American pope, has indicated he intends to further Francis' ecological legacy.
A longtime missionary in Peru, Leo experienced firsthand the effects of climate change on vulnerable communities and has already spoken out about the need for climate justice for Indigenous peoples, in particular.
In a message for the church's annual day of prayer for creation, Leo blasted the "injustice, violations of international law and the rights of peoples, grave inequalities and the greed that fuels them are spawning deforestation, pollution and the loss of biodiversity."
He made no equivocations about what or who was to blame, identifying 'climate change provoked by human activity.'
'As yet, we seem incapable of recognising that the destruction of nature does not affect everyone in the same way. When justice and peace are trampled underfoot, those who are most hurt are the poor, the marginalised and the excluded,' he wrote in the message, released last week.
Pope Leo advances solar farm plan for the Vatican
Leo celebrated the Mass during the first days of his vacation at Castel Gandolfo, a hilltop town overlooking Lake Alban in the cool hills south of Rome. He arrived on Sunday and will spend an initial two weeks there before returning to the Vatican and then heading back in August.
In another sign of his environmental commitment, Leo has indicated he plans to execute one of Francis' most important ecological legacies: The development of a 430-hectare field in northern Rome into a solar farm that would generate enough electricity to meet the Vatican's needs and thus make Vatican City the world's first carbon-neutral state.
The development would require an investment of just under €100 million, officials say, and needs the approval of the Italian parliament since the territory enjoys extraterritorial status that needs to be extended.
Last year, Francis tasked a commission of Vatican officials with developing the Santa Maria di Galeria site, which was long the source of controversy because of electromagnetic waves emitted by Vatican Radio towers there.
Leo visited the site in June and called it a 'wonderful opportunity.' He told RAI state television that the creation of such a farm would 'set a very important example: we are all aware of the effects of climate change, and we really need to take care of the whole of creation, as Pope Francis has taught so clearly.'
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