Pope Leo XIV offered a newly approved “Mass for the Care of Creation” Wednesday morning, July 9, 2025, during a quiet and intimate celebration in the gardens of the papal summer estate — marking the first public use of liturgical texts inspired by Laudato Si’ and approved under his authority.
The Mass was celebrated outdoors at Castel Gandolfo, the pope’s summer residence just southeast of Rome, before a small congregation of about 50 people affiliated with the Borgo Laudato Si’, an environmental center that seeks to live out the integral ecology outlined in Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’.
In his homily, Pope Leo emphasized the urgent need for spiritual conversion in the face of environmental degradation. “We should pray for the conversion of many people, in and outside of the Church, who still do not recognize the urgency of caring for creation, for our common home,” the pontiff said, “because the world is burning both from global warming and from armed conflicts” (Vatican Media, July 9, 2025).
This votive Mass is part of the Roman Missal’s “Masses for Various Needs and Occasions” and was officially added by the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. Archbishop Vittorio Francesco Viola, the dicastery’s secretary, explained that Leo recited parts of the liturgy in Latin “because that is how they appear in the ‘typical edition,’” and official translations are not yet available (CNA, July 9, 2025).
The Mass texts, approved by Pope Leo on June 8 and formally presented at a Vatican press conference on July 3, were originally developed under Pope Francis and were intended to coincide with the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si’. According to Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, the new Mass was introduced in response to “requests suggested by Laudato si’” and aims to “help us to learn how to care” for creation (Vatican press briefing, July 3, 2025).
The setting of the Mass — a natural “cathedral” of trees and gardens — held symbolic importance. “We are celebrating in the beauty of what you could say is a ‘natural’ cathedral,” the pope said, “with the plants and many elements of creation which they have brought here for us to celebrate the Eucharist” (Vatican Media, July 9, 2025).
Pope Leo also made reference to the historical and spiritual significance of the site, where popes have traditionally retreated in the summer months. “The place where [the Mass] was celebrated was not chosen by chance,” Archbishop Viola noted, “because it is the place where several pontiffs stopped to pray… before that image of the Virgin Mary” (CNA, July 9, 2025).
In a notable shift from his usual reserved tone on climate issues, Leo directly connected global warming and ecological collapse with the moral responsibility of the faithful. “Many natural disasters that we still see in the world… are also partly caused by the excesses of human beings, with their lifestyle,” he said. “Therefore, we must ask ourselves whether or not we ourselves are experiencing that conversion: how much we need it!” (CNA, July 9, 2025).
The pope’s reflections on the Gospel for the day — Jesus calming the storm at sea — connected the disciples’ fear to a modern crisis of faith and identity. “We today, in the faith that has been passed on to us, can instead continue: ‘He is also the head of the body, the Church… so that in all things he might have preeminence,’” Leo said, quoting St. Paul’s Letter to the Colossians (Vatican Media, July 9, 2025).
Pope Leo’s presence at Castel Gandolfo also marks a revival of papal vacations at the estate, a tradition discontinued under Pope Francis. His two-week stay there is scheduled to conclude on July 20.
As the Catholic Church continues to explore the integration of ecological awareness into her spiritual and liturgical life, Pope Leo’s gentle yet firm tone on the need for personal and communal conversion may set a precedent for future teaching. “Our mission to protect creation, to bring it peace and reconciliation,” Leo concluded, “is his own mission: the mission that the Lord has entrusted to us” (Vatican Media, July 9, 2025).
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