Environmental sustainability, the responsible use of resources, and the protection of our common home. These are the principles underpinning the Memorandum of Understanding signed on Wednesday, 10 June, between the Governorate of Vatican City State, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), the Fratello Sole Foundation, and Acea.

The aim of the agreement is to develop a joint pathway for defining, structuring, and progressively implementing the agrivoltaic plant that the Holy See, through the Governorate of Vatican City State, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), and the Fratello Sole Foundation, intends to build within the extraterritorial area of Santa Maria di Galeria.

To this end, by a Chirograph issued on 1 June, Pope Leo XIV established the Fratello Sole Foundation and approved its Statutes, entrusting it with completing the construction of the aforementioned agrivoltaic plant in order to ensure “not only the electricity supply for the radio station located there, but also the full energy supply of Vatican City State”.

The agrivoltaic Project places particular emphasis on the use of innovative and integrated solutions capable of combining energy production, the efficient use of resources, and the enhancement of the local area.

For this reason, the Protocol is in keeping with the teachings of the Church’s Magisterium and, in particular, with those set out in the Encyclical Laudato si’, the Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum, and Pope Francis’s Motu Proprio Fratello Sole of 21 June 2024.

In accordance with these principles, the development of the Project will take into account environmental sustainability criteria throughout the entire life cycle of the infrastructure, including the minimisation of emissions, the efficient use of water and energy resources, the protection of soil and ecosystems, and integration with agricultural activities.

The agreement with Acea therefore addresses the plant’s high degree of technical and managerial complexity, which calls for an integrated approach. Accordingly, the various energy, water, environmental, and agricultural components will be considered, along with the interrelationships between production, consumption, resource management, and the enhancement of those resources.

The legal framework governing the agrivoltaic plant and the procedures for implementing the initiative and connecting it to the electricity grid were established by the “Agreement between the Italian Republic and the Holy See for an agrivoltaic plant in Santa Maria di Galeria, signed in Rome on 31 July 2025”, ratified by Law No. 52 of 1 April 2026, which was published in the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic No. 94 of 23 April 2026.