In his recent letter titled "Brother Sun," Pope Francis announced intentions to fully transition the Vatican to green energy as part of efforts to combat climate change.
The Catholic Church first began addressing the issue of climate change publicly back to Pope Paul VI, who in 1971 expressed concern that "humanity risks destroying nature by exploiting it." Under the guidance of Benedict XVI over two decades ago, the Vatican began discussing plans to become the first "carbon-neutral state" with the construction of the Vatican forest in Hungary in 2007 (although the plans were never realized). Eventually, in 2008, 2400 solar panels were installed on the roofs of the Vatican's Paul V hall, confirming the efforts of his predecessors.
The current Pope Francis published a letter in 2015 about "caring for our common home," addressing the detrimental consequences of climate change. In 2023, the Vatican embraced electric vehicles in partnership with Volkswagen.
According to Pope Francis' new statement, the next step will be the construction of a solar power station, which is intended to power the entire Vatican with a population of approximately 825 people. The station will be located about 17 km from Rome, in the Santa Maria di Galeria area — a territory currently owned by Vatican Radio and often the subject of disputes due to electromagnetic waves.
Source: Euronews, Interesting Engineering
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