Numerous significant initiatives characterized the Season of Creation at the garden of the Generalate.
On September 30, 2025, Cardinal Fabio Baggio, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and President of the Laudato Si’ Center for Advanced Studies in the Vatican, visited the Sisters of Charity at the Generalate. After lunch, Mother Sister Maria Rosa and her closest collaborators accompanied the cardinal and his collaborators on a walk through the Eco-Charity Garden.
Also present was Dr. Donatella Parisi, communications coordinator for the Center for Higher Education and the Borgo Laudato Si’ in Castel Gandolfo, a project for education in integral ecology, environmental sustainability, and the circular economy. Pope Leo XIV officially inaugurated the 55-hectare site on September 5. It is a project desired by Pope Francis to give concrete expression to the principles contained in the encyclical Laudato si’.
CONFERENCE – THE UNFAIR CLIMATE
The conference “The Unfair Climate” – named after the 2024 FAO report – was also held on October 2 in the conference room of the Eco-Charity Garden. Promoted by the Office for Social Pastoral Care, Work, and Care for Creation of the Diocese of Rome, the event explored the social and economic consequences of the climate crisis, based on the results of last year’s FAO study.
Lauren Phillips, deputy director of the FAO’s Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division, rattled off the data and stated that “climate change affects each and every one of us.” She then denounced the lack of political attention to the issue.
The nuns of the Monastery of Santa Chiara, who have long applied the principles of the encyclical Laudato si’.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE “RAISING HOPE”
The Eco-Charity Garden project, which is part of a constellation of movements committed to caring for creation and spreading the message of the encyclical Laudato si’, was invited to the international conference Raising Hope, organized by the Laudato si’ Movement, which brought together over 1,000 delegates from around the world. Sister Mirna Farah participated on behalf of the Eco-Charity Garden.
Pope Leo XIV marked the opening ceremony with his presence and his call to move from numbers to action, to start again from the heart to listen to the cry of the earth.
Blessing a 20,000-year-old block of ice from Greenland, he asked us to reflect: “God will ask us if we have cultivated and cared for the world he created and our brothers and sisters. What will we answer?”
After the blessing, he concluded by saying, “It is a real honor to be able to count on you in this adventure, whether in Castel Gandolfo, in your local community, or through your prayers. Your commitment during the Season of Creation reminds us that we are always united in the mission of caring for our common home.”
