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ROME: Pope Leo XIV fed fish in the fishpond, pet horses and visited organic vineyards Friday as he inaugurated the Vatican’s ambitious project to turn Pope Francis’ preaching about caring for the environment into practice.
Leo formally opened Borgo Laudato Si, a 55-acre utopian experiment in sustainable farming, vocational training and environmental education located on the grounds of the papal summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo. The Vatican hopes the center, open to student groups, CEOs and others, will be a model of ecological stewardship, education and spirituality for the Catholic Church and beyond.
Leo traveled by helicopter to Castel Gandolfo and then zoomed around the estate’s cypress-lined gardens in an electric golf cart to reach the center, which is named for Francis’ landmark 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si,” or Praised Be. The document, which inspired an entire church movement, cast care for the planet as an urgent and existential moral concern that was inherently tied to questions of human dignity and justice, especially for the poor.
Leo has strongly reaffirmed Francis’ focus on the need to care for God’s creation, and celebrated the first “green” Mass in the estate’s gardens earlier this summer, using a new set of prayers inspired by the encyclical that specifically invoke prayers for creation. On Friday, some 10 years after Laudato Si was published, Leo presided over a liturgy to bless the new center after touring its gardens, farm and classrooms.
Leo recalled that according to the Bible, human beings have a special place in the act of creation, created in the “image and likeness of God.”
“But this privilege comes with a great responsibility: that of caring for all other creatures, in accordance with the creator’s plan,” he said. “Care for creation, therefore, represents a true vocation for every human being, a commitment to be carried out within creation itself, without ever forgetting that we are creatures among creatures, and not creators.”
A greenhouse inspired by St. Peter’s Square
Leo spoke from the heart of the project: a huge greenhouse in the same curved, embracing shape as the colonnade of St. Peter’s Square that faces a 10-room educational facility and dining hall. Once it’s up and running, visiting groups can come for an afternoon school trip to learn about organic farming, or a weekslong course on regenerative agriculture.
The center aims to accomplish many of the goals of the environmental cause. Solar panels provide all the power the facility needs, plastics are banned and recycling and composting systems used to reach zero-waste. Officials say water will be conserved and maximized via “smart irrigation” systems that use artificial intelligence to determine plants’ needs, along with rainwater harvesting and the installation of wastewater treatment and reuse systems.
There is a social component as well. The Vatican’s first-ever vocational school on the grounds will aim to provide on-site training in sustainable gardening, organic winemaking and olive harvesting to offer new job opportunities for particularly vulnerable groups: victims of domestic violence, refugees, recovering addicts and rehabilitated prisoners.
The products made will be sold on-site, with profits re-invested in the educational center: Laudato Si wine, organic olive oil, herbal teas from the farm’s aromatic garden and cheese made from its 60 dairy cows, continuing a tradition of agricultural production that for centuries have subsidized monasteries and convents.
While school groups are a core target audience, organizers also want to invite CEOs and professionals for executive education seminars, to sensitize the world of business to the need for sustainable economic growth.
Officials declined to discuss the financing of the project, other than to say an undisclosed number of partners had invested in it and that confidential business plans precluded the Vatican from releasing further information.

KABUL: A third earthquake, measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale, has struck eastern Afghanistan, less than a week after a powerful quake in the same region killed more than 2,200 people and injured thousands of others. 

At least 3,640 people were injured in the first quake, of magnitude 6, which hit the densely populated rural areas of Kunar, Nangarhar and Laghman provinces on Sunday, and a subsequent magnitude 5.5 quake on Tuesday, according to official reports. 

The real toll is feared to be higher, with rescue efforts ongoing in the steep terrain hindered by landslides and rockfalls damaging already poor roads. 

The latest tremor, at a depth of 10 km, occurred late on Thursday and was followed by a series of aftershocks on Friday morning, one of which measured 5.4, according to the German Research Center for Geosciences. 

“An aftershock occurs every 30 minutes. People are extremely frightened. Every time there’s an aftershock, we hear women and girls screaming. They fear the same devastation they witnessed during the first earthquake,” said Abdul Fatah Jawad, director of the Ehsas Welfare and Social Services Organization, who was with a team delivering aid to survivors in Kunar.  

“The psychological shock and trauma are severe. The tremors are extremely strong.” 

At least 37 people were hospitalized after Thursday’s quake, local media reported. As most families are still sheltering in open areas and tents, there were smaller casualties from the most recent quake, Jawad said. 

“Needs are huge following the powerful earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan affecting over 1.3 million people,” Jagan Chapagain, secretary-general and CEO of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said in a statement. 

“This earthquake could not have come at a worse time. The disaster not only brings immediate suffering but also deepens Afghanistan’s already fragile humanitarian crisis.” 

The initial quake had destroyed entire villages in the Ketak Valley of Noorgal district, where most of the casualties have been reported, said Dr. Rahmatullah Zahid, who was flown into the region from Nangarhar to help survivors. 

“People have lost their homes and all their belongings. They are in urgent need of shelter, as the current number of tents is insufficient. They also require clothing and essential household items for cooking, along with raw food supplies. These are immediate needs, and substantial long-term support will also be necessary,” he told Arab News. 

“On average, five to six people from each family died in the Aug. 31 earthquake. We spoke with one survivor who lost all of his family members, and another who lost 14 relatives. There wasn’t a single family untouched by casualties. The scale of this tragedy is immense.”