News

April 02, 2026

Amid the scenic papal gardens outside Rome in early March, the Vatican and the University of Notre Dame launched a new global sustainability initiative to apply Catholic principles to addressing climate change and other ecological threats facing the planet.

The Global Alliance for Laudato Si' was officially formed during a March 9-10 meeting of almost 100 scientists, researchers and environmental activists at Borgo Laudato Si', the educational sustainability center inspired by Pope Francis' 2015 encyclical on ecology and inaugurated by Pope Leo XIV last year in Castel Gandolfo, the centuries-old summer residence of popes.

The alliance aims to create an international network of academic leaders and institutions to collaborate on research, curriculum and other actions that promote stewardship of the Earth reflecting the ideas of integral ecology and ecological conversion expressed by Francis in his encyclical "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home."