The Borgo Dialogues
A Global Platform to Advance Courageous Leadership for the Common Good
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OVERVIEW:
The Borgo Dialogues is a global leadership platform convened by the Laudato Si’ Center for Higher Education and developed in collaboration with the University of Notre Dame, Handshake Strategies and Deloitte Switzerland to advance courageous leadership and the common good.
The Borgo Dialogues is a year-round community of practice that convenes leaders from business, finance, technology, healthcare, academia, faith, philanthropy, sport, civil society, and international institutions to address the defining challenges of our time.
Rooted in the Catholic vision of leadership in service to the common good, the Borgo Dialogues are founded on a simple premise: today’s most pressing challenges cannot be solved by governments alone. Inspired by papal encyclicals Laudato Si’, Fratelli Tutti and Magnifica Humanitas, the Borgo Dialogues provides a trusted forum for candid dialogue, moral reflection, and cross-sector collaboration aimed at advancing courageous leadership and responsible innovation.
At the heart of the Borgo Dialogues is a guiding question: What are we building, for whom, and who will inherit it? Participants are challenged to consider how decisions in technology, investment, healthcare, governance and leadership will shape future generations.
Created to foster a different kind of leadership conversation, the Borgo Dialogues combines moral clarity, intellectual rigor, and practical action. It provides a trusted space where leaders from diverse sectors can engage candidly across disciplines and perspectives, build meaningful relationships, and develop collaborative solutions that advance human dignity, strengthen social trust, promote sustainability, and support long-term human flourishing.
The inaugural gathering was held June 17-19, 2026, at Borgo Laudato Si’ in the Pontifical Gardens of Castel Gandolfo, Vatican State. Leaders participated in immersive dialogue, strategic collaboration, and guided reflection on three core themes:
- AI & Humanity
- Aging & Dignity
- Sports & Diplomacy
The inaugural gathering inspired a number of strategic initiatives led by participants focused on: Artificial intelligence for the Common Good, Healthcare and Dignity, Courageous Leadership and Heroism Through Sport. It concluded with a private audience with His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, who described the Dialogues as “a first step in the process” of renewing and reimagining moral leadership in a fragmented world.
The second Borgo Dialogues were held in New York from September 21 – 23, 2026 on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly.
The Borgo Dialogues will convene annually at Borgo Laudato Si’, a 135-acre landscape of gardens, farmland, and archaeological heritage located at Castel Gandolfo, the historic papal summer residence. Designed as a living laboratory for integral ecology, the grounds serve as an environment uniquely suited to reflection, learning, collaboration, and renewal as we seek to advance deeper human understanding and collective care for our common home.
Convened by the Centro di Alta Formazione Laudato Si’, the Borgo Dialogues was developed in collaboration with Handshake Strategies as co-architect and principal operating partner, the University of Notre Dame serving as academic partner and Deloitte Switzerland as management consulting partner. Together, the organizations are building a global platform designed to foster trusted relationships, ongoing courageous leadership formation and collaborative action to responsible innovation and human-centered progress.
Pope Leo XIV and The Borgo DialoguesBACKGROUND:
The Borgo and The Laudato Si’
In February 2023, Pope Francis established the Vatican’s Laudato Si’ Center for Higher Education (Centro di Alta Formazione Laudato Si’) as a scientific, educational, and social institution entrusted with advancing the Church’s vision for ecological responsibility and human dignity. Central to this mission was the creation of Borgo Laudato Si’, an ecological and vocational center designed to cultivate leaders who integrate care for creation with the common good.
Located just beyond the borders of Rome on the historic papal grounds of Castel Gandolfo, Vatican State, the Borgo spans nearly 136 acres of gardens, farmland, livestock areas, greenhouses, and archaeological heritage. Once reserved exclusively for papal use, the estate has gradually opened to the world – first by Pope Francis and later expanded under Pope Leo XIV – reflecting a shared commitment to welcome visitors of every background and tradition.
In 2025, Laudato Si’ Center for Higher Education inaugurated a new chapter for the Borgo, inviting international delegations, academic institutions, diocesan groups, and vulnerable communities to experience its model firsthand. Guided tours are truly immersive experiences in the beauty of Creation, allowing guests to encounter the principles of Laudato Si’ as a lived practice through educational pathways focused on integral ecology, environmental sustainability, and a circular, generative economy. The grounds also retain their spiritual character: visitors may pray, reflect, and walk paths used by generations of Popes.
The Borgo’s programming draws on three Pontifical Encyclicals – Laudato Si’ (Francis, 2015), Fratelli Tutti (Francis, 2020), and Magnifica Humanitas (Leo XIV, 2026) – woven together as a unified framework for courageous leadership and the common good. The newly built Laudato Si’ Center for Higher Education will offer courses in sustainable practices, organic agriculture, and ecological decision-making for individuals, communities, and institutions.
Following two years of preparation and piloting, the Borgo’s full programming began in 2026. Guided by Laudato Si’ Center for Higher Education, it now brings together global leaders, the private sector, investors, and entrepreneurs to cultivate communities of practice dedicated to a shared future – one rooted in moral clarity, ecological responsibility, and the dignity of every person. Visitors and participants are encouraged to carry forward this spirit into their families, workplace, and communities, advancing a culture of care for our common home.
Explore Borgo Laudato Si'
Upcoming Borgo Dialogues
The Borgo Dialogues is a global leadership platform that convenes leaders from business, technology, finance, healthcare, academia, faith, sport, civil society and international institutions to address the defining challenges of our time and help build frameworks capable of safeguarding human dignity, advancing the common good, and ensuring a sustainable future for generations to come.
Inspired by papal encyclicals Laudato Si’, Fratelli Tutti and Magnifica Humanitas, the Borgo Dialogues provide a trusted forum for candid dialogue, moral reflection, and cross-sector collaboration aimed at advancing courageous leadership and responsible innovation.
Convened by the Centro di Alta Formazione Laudato Si’, the Borgo Dialogues bring together diverse perspectives to foster meaningful relationships, practical action, and long-term collaboration that address social, technical, environmental and economic challenges. Grounded in the belief that leadership is exercised in service of others, the Dialogues encourage decision-making that advances human flourishing, protects the most vulnerable, and promotes the common good. The Borgo Dialogues are developed in collaboration with Handshake Strategies, the University of Notre Dame and Deloitte Switzerland.
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- Borgo Dialogues in Davos
World Economic Forum
Davos, Switzerland
January 18 – 22, 2027 -
- Borgo Dialogues Annual Convening
Borgo Laudato Si’, Pontifical Gardens
Castel Gandolfo, Vatican State
June 2027
OUR MOMENTS:
From Castel Gandolfo to New York and Davos, The Borgo Dialogues continue to convene leaders from around the world
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