Canticle of Peace at Castel Gandolfo, 29 July 2026

The Pope listened as 164 children and young people sang with the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli in the papal gardens, praying for peace and speaking about the power of beauty and song. This is the centre-piece of PolicyNow’s main article. This page lays out what happened, who organized it and who was involved.

The date was chosen with care. And 2026 will be the 800th anniversary of the death of Saint Francis of Assisi, which the Vatican has declared a year of observances around the commemoration. The Canticle of Peace was included in those ceremonies, Vatican News said. The name also evokes the Canticle of the Creatures, the hymn that Pope Francis used as the title for his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, which in turn gave Borgo Laudato Si’ its name.

There were two organizations behind the evening. The Borgo Laudato Si' is run by the Laudato Si' Center for Higher Education and its director general, Cardinal Fabio Baggio, spoke at the event. The choir was brought by the Andrea Bocelli Foundation, which Bocelli founded to support children and young people facing poverty, illness or limited access to education. In September 2025, Bocelli had already performed at the inauguration of the Borgo, a collaboration between the two bodies.

The scene was the Pontifical Gardens at Castel Gandolfo, the papal estate on the Alban Hills southeast of Rome. The area of the estate that hosts the event is Borgo Laudato Si’, an educational-agricultural initiative of roughly 135 acres. Dusk was falling in the gardens as the show began and for those unable to be there, Vatican News streamed the gathering on its website and YouTube channel, OSV News reported.

The choir was made up of participants in the foundation's Voices Of initiative, which combines choral singing with educational programs for youngsters in regions impacted by poverty, violence or inadequate schooling. The teenage singers were from the Holy Land, Uganda and Italy, OSV News and Religion News Service said. Some were from Israel or Palestine, and the choir was classified as interfaith, the Religion News Service reported. The choir consists of young people from five nations, Vatican News claimed in its pre-event release.

The vocalists, aged between eight and 19, had spent the previous days together in Italy as part of the first ABF Voices Of Global Gathering, which spanned from 20 to 29 July, according to PolicyNow’s main article. The schedule included rehearsals, workshops and time living together and culminated in the gardens in the evening. The main page also lists the communities of the young people, such as Nabikabala in Uganda, and Naples and Camerino in Italy.

The foundation's Voices Of program is older than the evening at Castel Gandolfo. The charity says it works with children in communities impacted by poverty, violence or restricted schooling, according to PolicyNow's main article. It launched in Haiti in 2016. There is a simple concept. Young people join a chorus, and they mix singing with educational sessions, so music becomes a way into schooling and community, not an end in itself. The 2026 event was touted as the foundation’s first “ABF Voices Of Global Gathering.

One group didn't make the voyage. The Voices Of initiative was launched in Haiti in 2016 and the pre-event press release from the Vatican included Haiti among the countries participating. OSV News reports that PolicyNow’s primary piece states that a Haitian delegation was unable to go due to ongoing insecurity. Later stories say the choir was from the Holy Land, Uganda and Italy, which matches that story. PolicyNow has not independently verified the details

The musical program was a simple one. OSV News reported that Bocelli sang the Latin song Panis Angelicus for the pope, then led the chorus in Amazing Grace, which closed the evening. The Pope sat in front of the young singers as they sang, and Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, was one of those who listened beside him.

Cardinal Baggio also spoke, saying the gathering represented the goal of Borgo Laudato Si’ as a place where the religion becomes an encounter and peace is developed by caring for people, communities and creation, OSV News said. He invited all there to surrender the performance to the Lord so that its singing would become 'a seed of hope for the world', and this statement has been echoed in various sources.

A short reflection was given by Pope Leo. He spoke about how the pull of beauty in music causes people to search for the source of beauty itself, and in that search people encounter God as Creator, OSV News reported. Religion News Service said he called the choir “an ideal symbol of harmony and cooperation” and told the children that music enables people to experience beauty even if they come from places touched by war.

He also prayed personally upon the vocalists. The Pope told the children he was praying for them, their families and their nations, and for peace in homes and in places where violence continues, Religion News Service said. The comments come while battles continue in Ukraine and the Middle East, a setting Religion News Service noted in its report.”

After the performance, children from the choir gave the pope gifts from their home countries. OSV News evening photos show a young woman giving him a present, the Pope greeting a violinist and smiling with Bocelli. These brief moments were heavily relied upon by news outlets to show the tone of the evening.

The reports put together, the evening followed a definite order. As the light faded, guests and the young singers gathered around in the gardens. Cardinal Baggio spoke, Bocelli sang Panis Angelicus, and the choir performed, then Pope Leo spoke, the children presented their gifts and Bocelli and the choir finished with Amazing Grace. No outlet we found has published a full minute-by-minute program, so the exact sequence of the speeches and songs may differ slightly from this summary.

After the concert, Pope Leo gave brief interviews to NBC and Telemundo on the grounds of the retreat. As the National Catholic Reporter pointed out, it was his second media interview in almost fifteen months in office. He said he considers himself the pope who happens to be American, hinted that he expects to visit the United States within a couple of years, and urged migrants to have hope while seeking ways to live in an orderly fashion.

The evening matters for many reasons and this interpretation is PolicyNow's editorial view, not a formal pronouncement. First, it connected two Vatican initiatives: the Borgo Laudato Si’, promoted by Pope Francis and Pope Leo, and the Voices Of program, which supports youngsters in difficult situations. Secondly, it included children from war zones in front of the Pope at a time of tremendous violence. Third, it attached the Saint Francis celebration to a tangible public event, not merely a liturgical one.”

Some things are unverified. The sources we identified don’t offer the number of individuals in the audience, the overall cost of the event or the complete text of Pope Leo’s speech, and we haven’t been able to find an official transcript issued by the Vatican. There are also subtle differences in the reports on the origins of the choir with some citing three locations, while Vatican News speaks of five countries. “Where reports conflict, PolicyNow has used wording closest to the original source, and has attributed it.

PolicyNow’s lead piece features Canticle of Peace and a connected meeting when international financier Julio Herrera Velutini was photographed with the Pope. This page is about the concert, not that meeting. We have located no independent source confirming when or where the photograph was taken, and none of the papers cited here mention it. Nothing on this page should be interpreted as confirmation of it.

To summarize: The Canticle of Peace was held on 29 July 2026 in Borgo Laudato Si' in Castel Gandolfo. The event, hosted by the Laudato Si’ Center for Higher Education and the Andrea Bocelli Foundation, included Bocelli and a choir of 164 young people. The event ended with Amazing Grace and presentation of gifts. The prayer was lead and reflection given by the Pope. If the Vatican publishes the official program or the texts of the talks PolicyNow will update this page.