Pope Francis, a supporter of action against climate change and environmental protection, ordered this Wednesday (26) the construction of a solar park to meet the energy needs of Vatican City.
The mini-state, based in Rome, houses the headquarters of the global Catholic Church and comprises St. Peter’s Basilica. It is the smallest country in the world, measuring just 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 northwest outskirts of Rome.
The area belongs to the Vatican and already houses a transmission center for Vatican Radio, 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” (Praised 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 up that encyclical with the apostolic exhortation “Laudate Deum” (Praise be to God), in which he called on climate change deniers and politicians to change their minds, saying they cannot cover up human causes or ridiculing science while the planet “may be reaching breaking point.”
The pope gave the task of building the solar energy park to the cardinal who serves as governor of the Vatican City State and to the head of APSA, the department that manages the Vatican’s portfolio and is often described as its central bank.
Source: CNN Brasil
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