News

The Gift of the Vatican’s Garden and Environmental Service for Easter

A carpet of flowers for St. Peter's Square 

During Holy Week, a considerable commitment is undertaken to decorate St. Peter's Square with flowers and plants. The Garden and Environmental Service of the Governorate of the Vatican City State is responsible for this, with the collaboration of Dutch master florists. And it is precisely from Holland, as well as from Italy, that many of the flowers originate that will adorn the Square during the most important liturgical time of the year, Easter. Rafael Tornini, head of the Garden and Environment Service, describes this in an interview on www.vaticanstate.va.

Fourteen new electric vehicles for the sustainable development program

The Governorate’s increasing commitment to green energy 

Fourteen electric vehicles, including 4 Melex passenger vehicles for the Gendarmerie and 10 Goupil utility vehicles for the working needs of the Vatican City State have joined the car park inventory. Newly supplied by the company Exelentia (Italian Mobility Factory), the additions facilitate the Governorate’s continuing implementation of its sustainable mobility development program launched in November 2023 with the title “Ecological Conversion 2030”. In addition, Exelentia will donate two electric vehicles appropriately modified for papal needs.

In the Monastery of the Poor Clares of Albano, Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, President Emeritus of the Governorate, celebrated the Holy Mass in preparation for Easter

A community in prayer to accompany the Pope and his collaborators 

A special place, where the Eucharist is celebrated while awaiting Easter: the Monastery of the Immaculate Conception of the Poor Clares of Albano. A community that, given its location within the Pontifical Villas, has always had a special bond with the Governorate and its departments. The nuns of Saint Clare have, in fact, as a special mission, that of praying for the Pope, the Church and for Vatican City.

The new Saint Francis and Saint Clare Nursery School is now open inside the Vatican

The Pope’s concern for families 

A nursery school born from “Pope Francis’ concern for the families of Vatican employees, so that they can have an adequate structure to which they can entrust their little ones”. The “San Francesco e Santa Chiara” nursery school was blessed by Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, President Emeritus of the Governorate of the Vatican City State, during its inauguration as the first ever to open within the Vatican Walls. The ribbon-cutting ceremony took place on Monday afternoon, April 14, at its location on Via San Luca.

Press Release of the Governorate of the Vatican City State Flowers for Holy Week 2025 in the Vatican

During the celebrations of Holy Week in the Vatican thousands of multicolored flowers and plants, originating in Italy and Holland, adorned St. Peter's Basilica and St. Peter’s Square. In collaboration with the generous benefactors who donated the beautiful plants and flowers to the Pope, in honor of this most significant liturgical season, the gardeners and workers of the Garden and Environment Service of the Directorate of Infrastructure and Services of the Governorate once again presented spectacular arrangements and care of detail for the faithful and multitude of pilgrims that had arrived in Rome for Holy Week. 

Joint philatelic issue between the Vatican City State and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta

A postage stamp to celebrate the canonization of Carlo Acutis 

Wearing a red t-shirt and a backpack on his shoulders, with a gentle smile that expresses his love of life, the serene portrait is of 15-year old Carlo Acutis immersed in nature on Mount Subasio, near Assisi, during one of his last field trips before his untimely death. It is the image reproduced on the postage stamp dedicated to the canonization of Carlo Acutis on April 27.