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. 

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.

Paradigm Shifts: Fostering a Leadership of Care 

 “To care first of all for the fragility of human beings, to recognize the centrality of the human person, to nurture the gifts of every man and woman, to invest in people, and to create environments -including economic organizations and workplaces- in which their talents can be nurtured and truly flourish” are the tasks that leaders must carry out to promote a leadership of care.

The Governorate of the Vatican City State, in its effort to offer comprehensive and widespread communication, has opened its official Instagram account for the Pontifical Villas at Castel Gandolfo: villepontificie.

The account provides useful news to visitors and will include basic and historic information about this centuries old historic landmark of the papacy.

The creation of the account has the objective of promoting, to a wider audience, the activities carried out by the Directorate of the Pontifical Villas, informing the public with current news and initiatives of public interest.

This channel will make it possible to reach people and organizations that obtain information and communicate primarily through the use of social media networks.

The conditions and needs of the sick, in the eyes of a throwaway culture, may not respond to rigid and callous canons of profit and productivity. As a consequence the ill can be easily marginalized, especially in modern society. On April 5 and 6 physicians, health care professionals together with patients and volunteers celebrated the Jubilee of the Sick and Health Care Workers for this Holy Year.