Andrea Bocelli: Pope Leo XIV is ‘a beacon to guide us in these complex times’

Pope Leo XIV greets Italian singer Andrea Bocelli at the inauguration of the Laudato Si’ ecological village at Castel Gandolfo, Italy, on Sept. 5, 2025. / Credit: EWTN/Screenshot

ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 8, 2025 / 14:43 pm (CNA).

Following the inauguration of the Laudato Si’ ecological village, Italian singer Andrea Bocelli highlighted “the honor of singing before the Holy Father” and said he felt at that moment “the power of divine providence and a renewed serenity in celebrating the universal Church” under the guidance of its “new and steadfast pastor,” Leo XIV.

Borgo Laudato Si’ is an environmental project located in Castel Gandolfo and inspired by Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical “On Care for Our Common Home.”

The ecological complex includes state-of-the-art insulation, photovoltaic, and circular water management systems as well as areas for educational activities for students.

This is “one of the Church’s initiatives aimed at fulfilling this ‘vocation to be stewards of God’s work,’” Pope Leo XIV said during the liturgical celebration of the inauguration.

In this context, the famous Italian lyric tenor Andrea Bocelli, along with his son Matteo, offered the Holy Father a musical interpretation of “Dolce è Sentire” (“It’s Sweet to Feel”) based on St. Francis’ “Canticle of the Sun.” 

The singer referred to that moment on social media, commenting: “It was deeply moving to witness firsthand the tangible expression of what Pope Francis so powerfully advocated in his encyclical Laudato Si’: the urgent need for an ecological conversion for our common earthly home.”

A decade later, the project bearing the same name on the grounds of Castel Gandolfo stands as an example of this vision — a true miracle of goodwill, where the splendor of nature and human endeavor meet: “a creature among creatures,” as Pope Leo XIV underlined, entrusted with the sacred duty of care (for nature “cannot but speak to us of God”), the singer reflected.

Bocelli also shared that “the joy of witnessing the inauguration of Laudato Si’ Village — a virtuous center of advanced education, inclusion, hospitality, and sustainability — was further enhanced by the honor of singing before the Holy Father, a man of God and a figure of the highest spiritual and intellectual stature.”

Finally, he was moved to acknowledge: “When, together with my son Matteo, we intoned ‘Dolce Sentire’ — a prayer that evokes the sacredness and harmony of creation — I felt, as I had not in a long time, the strength of divine providence and a renewed serenity in celebrating the universal Church, which in Pope Leo XIV has found a new and steadfast shepherd, a beacon to guide us through these complex times.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.