Perhaps in an attempt to harness divine green energy from the ‘Big Man’ himself, the Pope is installing solar panels at the Vatican in Rome.

The old decaying cement roof tiles on the Paul VI auditorium will be replaced by 2,700 solar panels capabile of lighting, heating and cooling the 6,000 seat auditorium.

One of the engineers installing the panels told the Associated Press (AP) news agency:

“With this plant, if it is working, in about two weeks we avoid 200 tonnes of carbon dioxide, and this is the equivalent to 70 tonnes of oil.”

The panels have been donated by German company Solar World.

More from an AP video here and a BBC report here.

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