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Pope: Ecological challenge of our time is more urgent than ever
In a meeting with the Hera Group, an Italian multiutility group that manages environmental services in the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV reiterates the importance of creating a “culture of care” to counter the “throwaway culture” that permeates our world and its resources.
By Isabella H. de Carvalho
“The ecological challenge of our time is indeed more urgent than ever,” Pope Leo XIV said in a meeting with a delegation of an Italian multiutility company that works also in the Vatican, on October 1, 2026.
“Rather than treating every used object as mere waste, we need to change our behavior and commit ourselves to taking a different path. Essentially, this means moving beyond the consumerist model and toward a production system capable of preserving the limited resources of our planet,” the Pope told the Hera Group.
The Hera Group is an Italian multiutility company that focuses on waste disposal and the distribution of gas, water and energy. Sustainability, a circular economy and protecting the environment are major parts of their mission.
Since December 2025, they also manage the environmental services in the Vatican, after signing an agreement with the Governorate.
The company handles the collection, transportation, recovery, and disposal of waste using environmentally friendly vehicles, such as an electric vehicle that as of April 2026 is used for waste collection in St. Peter’s Square.
The Group also launched initiatives during the 2025 Jubilee for plastic recycling, in accordance with the guidelines of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’.
Throwaway culture can be countered by a culture of care
In his address, Pope Leo XIV said he was pleased to welcome the group as it gave “the opportunity to once again emphasize the importance of our responsibility to protect creation.”
He thanked them for their work in the field of recycling, “including in the Vatican,” and noted that it “bears witness to the fact that the throwaway culture can be successfully countered by a culture of care.”
“This culture is not limited simply to objects and products, but extends from these to human work, and from work to people. Indeed, it is we who inhabit the world and who, through our decisions and our actions, experience it as a gift from God.”
Christians cannot resign ourselves to a culture of waste
He noted how today we are, on the one hand, “witnessing the uncontrolled consumption of resources; on the other, the management and disposal of enormous quantities of waste are becoming increasingly problematic.”
He called for changing how we act in order to create a system capable of preserving the resources of our planet and insisted that “mindful of God’s commandment, as Christians we cannot resign ourselves to accepting a culture of waste.”
“Rather, we are called to make wise use of creation,” the Pope emphasized.
“As Pope Francis taught, the model of recycling and circular production represents a good way to ensure a sustainable environment for future generations,” he continued, while calling the Church to “set an example of consistency” and “be the first to put into practice what she herself proclaims.”
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