Leo XIV in the “Land of Fires”: Laudato Si’ as a Framework for Naturalistic Activism

The National Catholic Register reports that on May 23, 2026, the antipope Leo XIV (Robert Prevost) visited the so-called “Terra dei Fuochi” (“Land of Fires”) near Naples, Italy — a region devastated by decades of illegal toxic waste dumping. The visit, framed as an act of solidarity with the local population suffering from environmental and health crises, was explicitly tied to the 11th anniversary of the late antipope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’. Leo XIV declared that the encyclical “has represented a great gift for the Church’s mission in this land” and stated that “the cry of creation and of the poor among you has been felt most dramatically due to a deadly concentration of shadowy interests and indifference toward the common good — forces that have poisoned both the natural and social environments.” The antipope called for “conversion,” thanked those who “responded to evil with good,” and urged the community to pursue justice and ecological restoration. Bishop Antonio Di Donna of Acerra recounted the history of the environmental tragedy, and approximately 12,000 people attended the gathering. The entire event is a textbook case of the conciliar sect’s systematic reduction of the Church’s supernatural mission to naturalistic social activism, replacing the preaching of Christ the King with the gospel of environmentalism.