Under the decisions, Pope Francis will remember, for whom his not yet realized vision of the full Vatican city is on the case with solar energy.
Pope Francis (Jorge Mario Bergoglio) died on Monday, April 21, 2025, at the age of 88 in his residence in the Vatican Casa Santa Marta.
Jorge Bergoglio became Pope Benedict XVI in March 2013. Elected Pope a month earlier. He was the first Pope to choose Francis as his papal name after St. Francis of Assisi. Saint Francis is known as the patron saint of the poor, but also the environment and animals.
In his encyclical letter from 2015 with the title Laupato Si ‘(praise) Pope Francis said that it was urgently needed to develop renewable energy sources in order to tackle the climate crisis.
“We know that the technology based on the use of heavily contaminating fossil fuels – especially coal, but also in oil and to a lesser extent – are increasingly replaced without delay,” he said.
Pope Francis wanted “a new dialogue about how we shape the future of our planet”.
One way to influence positive changes is to keep the example – practicing what you preach. Something that was challenging the Catholic Church in the past.
How is the Vatican city driven?
The city of the Vatican, the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, became independent of Italy in 1929. In an area of 49 hectares and with a population of around 882 like last year, it is the smallest sovereign state in the world on both fronts.
Vatican city relies on electricity imported from Italy. According to Ember Energy Mixture in 2024, Italy’s electricity mixture:
- Fossil fuels: 51%
- Hydro: 19%
- Wind and solar power: 22%
… and thrown some bioenergy. It is a good effort with more – the country is aiming for 69% renewable electricity by 2030.
In 2020, Pope Francis announced that it would reduce net emissions to zero before 2050.
In a submission to the UNFCC in May 2023, the Vatican explained:
“Although the city state of Vatican is insignificant to global emissions, it is important to invest in projects for reducing quality emissions and in initiatives for integral ecology, which, in addition to reducing greenhouse gases, also lead to ethical and social advantages.”
Vision “Brother Sun” for the Vatican City
Pope Francis also wanted to change how the Vatican city was driven. In his apostolic letter in June last year with the title “Fratello Sole” (“Brother Sun”), he again asked the changes to lifestyles, production and consumption to counteract global warming, and once again pointed out fossil fuels as one of his main causes.
“Humanity has the technological means to deal with this environmental change and its harmful ethical, social, economic and political consequences, and under these solar energy plays a key role,” said Pope Francis.
In this letter, Pope Francis commissioned the president of the governor of the Vatican city state and president of the administration of the inheritance of the Apostolic see the task of monitoring the development of an agrivoltaic1 system in the extraterritorial zone of Santa Maria di Galeria. The solar arm would not only participate in its entirety, not only the radio station of the Vatican, but also the state state of Vatican.
While Pope Francis did not meet his vision, there are already solar panel installations in the Vatican City itself. One of these systems is located on the “Courtyard of the Corazze” entrance from the Vatican Museum, which was completed in December last year. The 135 kW sun flow system is expected to generate around 164 MWh of clean electricity per year. The cover of the area with solar collectors also offers a significant reduction in summer feed energy consumption.
Image: Vatican museums
Various other energy efficiency efforts were undertaken or underway in the Vatican city. Including retrofitting of LED lighting, the addition of battery systems and HLK system upgrades. The Vatican has also undertaken to decarbonize its vehicle fleet by 2030.
It remains to be seen whether Pope Francis’ solar energy plan for the Vatican city is recognized via Santa Maria di Galeria. Under the hurdles, Italy banned the construction of solar parks on productive agricultural land last year. While the Agrivoltaics angle in combination with Catholic church angle could help bring it across the line, there are other ways to operate the city-states exclusively on renewable energies.
Footnot
- “Agrivoltaics” combines solar power production with agriculture in the same country. ↩
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