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The Vatican has announced the opening of the Earth Partner Exhibition at Borgo Laudato Si’, a new cultural and educational centre within the Pontifical Villas of Castel Gandolfo.
The exhibition, which runs from 10 September to 4 October, will showcase 55 projects by young artists from 28 countries, exploring responses to the global ecological crisis. The initiative was presented at Sala Marconi in Piazza Pia by Paolo Ruffini, Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, together with Cardinal Fabio Baggio and Amber Olson Testino, President of Art Partner. The event marks the latest stage in preparations for the formal inauguration of Borgo Laudato Si’ by Pope Leo on 5 September.
The exhibition brings together a selection of previous winners and honourable mentions of the Earth Partner Prize, formerly known as #CreateCOP. Established six years ago by the sustainability division of the creative agency Art Partner, the annual prize offers a platform for artists under the age of 30 to present creative ideas, responses, and solutions to environmental challenges.
The display forms part of the Jubilee Year celebrations in Rome and coincides with the Season of Creation. According to organisers, the works reflect themes ranging from climate change and plastic pollution to corporate responsibility and the protection of oceans.
Borgo Laudato Si’, which spans 35 hectares of gardens and 20 hectares of farmland, was created by Pope Francis in 2023 as a project dedicated to integral ecology, environmental sustainability, and the development of a circular economy. It is managed by the Laudato Si’ Centre for Higher Education, established to promote the formation of young people in line with the Pope’s 2015 encyclical Laudato si’: On Care for Our Common Home.
Each work will be mounted in frames fashioned from trees destroyed during Storm Vaia in 2018, which devastated 41,000 hectares of forest in northern Italy. The materials were repurposed with the help of the Autonomous Province of Trento, the Trentino-Alto Adige/South Tyrol Region, and the Magnifica Comunità di Fiemme. The exhibition will later travel to Trento, where it will be displayed from 13 to 19 October as part of the Autumnus Festival.
Amber Olson Testino said: “Young people today have internalised the ecological crisis as part of their daily lives, and it moves me to see their creativity focused on diverse topics—from extreme weather to plastic pollution, from corporate responsibility to the protection of oceans. The resulting body of work is both intimate and expansive, and expresses the urgency of the current crisis as well as a profound hope for a truly integral ecology.”
At the press launch, Msgr Lucio Adrian Ruiz observed that Pope Francis’s encyclical had “sparked a wide debate and influenced the vision of many people regarding environmental and social issues”, inviting new paths and processes of change. Cardinal Baggio emphasised that “the urgency of a true ecological conversion is needed.”
In response to a question from The Catholic Herald on some of the criticisms of the Church’s focus on ecology, the cardinal underlined the unity of the spiritual and material dimensions of salvation. He pointed to the example of Jesus Christ, who proclaimed the Gospel while healing the sick and addressing justice, and cited the teaching of Pope Leo XIII as a model for responding pastorally to the pressing challenges of each age, while reminding listeners that the liturgy and doctrine are equally important.
