The Laudato Si’ for Higher Education welcomes with profound joy the decision of Pope Leo XIV to appoint Sister Alessandra Smerilli, FMA, as Prefect, and Cardinal Fabio Baggio, C.S., as Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

At a time marked by profound environmental, social, and cultural challenges, these appointments represent a significant sign of continuity in the Church’s mission to promote integral human development, following the path laid out by the Encyclical Laudato Si’ and now renewed through the magisterium of Pope Leo XIV.

Sister Alessandra Smerilli brings to this new ministry many years of leadership and service to the universal Church. A Salesian Sister, economist, and university professor, she has held significant positions within the Holy See, making an outstanding contribution in the fields of economics, integral human development, and pastoral discernment. Since the inception of Borgo Laudato Si’, she has accompanied the project as a member of the Board of Directors of the Laudato Si’ Center for Higher Education, playing a decisive role in shaping its cultural, educational, and ecclesial vision.

Cardinal Fabio Baggio, a Scalabrinian missionary, brings to his new office extensive pastoral and governance experience acquired in service to the universal Church. After years of missionary work in Chile, Argentina, Mexico and the Philippines, Pope Francis called him to the Vatican in 2017 to establish the Migrants and Refugees Section, entrusting him with a central role in the Church’s response to the phenomenon of human mobility.

He was appointed Under-Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development in 2022 and was created Cardinal in 2024. Since 2023, he has also served as Director General of the Laudato si’ Center for Higher Education. In his new responsibility, he will continue to lead Borgo Laudato Si’, guiding its growth as a concrete expression of the Church’s mission: a place where care for creation is inseparably linked to the promotion of the dignity of every human person. Rooted in the faith and in the Church’s Social Doctrine, Borgo Laudato si’ will continue to develop as a living laboratory of integral ecology, inspiring new generations through education, research, community life, and discernment.

Fr. Manuel Dorantes, Managing Director of Borgo Laudato Si’, stated: “These appointments are a sign of God’s faithfulness, continuing to guide the Church through men and women called to serve with humility, wisdom, and courage. In a world that so often experiences fragmentation, fear, and uncertainty, we are invited to rediscover that care for creation begins above all with the conversion of the heart and with the awareness that every person is held in the loving care of the Father.

The mission of Borgo Laudato Si’ continues with renewed enthusiasm because it is not simply a project, but a place where the Gospel takes tangible form through care for our common home, the promotion of human dignity, and the building of relationships reconciled with God, with one another, and with creation.

The leadership of Sister Alessandra Smerilli and Cardinal Fabio Baggio at the Dicastery is a source of encouragement for us to persevere in this ecclesial vocation, so that what we accomplish today may become a seed of hope for future generations.”

Borgo Laudato Si’ also expresses its profound gratitude to Pope Leo XIV for confirming Cardinal Fabio Baggio as Director of the Laudato si’ Center for Higher Education. This decision ensures continuity for the project and strengthens its mission as an innovation hub of integral ecology at the service of the Church and society.

Looking to the future, the Laudato si’ Center for Higher Education places its confidence in Cardinal Fabio Baggio’s leadership as he discerns how the orientations of the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, expressed in Magnifica Humanitas, may inspire the continued development of Borgo Laudato Si’, enabling it to become ever more a place where care for creation, the promotion of human dignity, and spiritual growth are translated into concrete experiences of education, technology, research, and Christian witness.

Finally, the Laudato si’ Center for Higher Education wishes to express its sincere and heartfelt gratitude to Cardinal Michael Czerny for the closeness and support with which, during his service as Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, he accompanied the birth and growth of Borgo Laudato Si’. His contribution remains a treasured part of the journey that now continues with renewed hope in the service of the Church and the world.