Vatican gardeners plant botanical reproduction of pope's coat of arms

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A new pope means a new papal coat of arms topped by the papal miter and a set of crossed keys.

Most churches in Italy will soon be replacing the metal shield of the coat of arms of Pope Francis that adorned their facade with Pope Leo XIV's shield; however, Vatican gardeners have already made the switch.

Workers spent about two weeks planting and rearranging evergreens, flowers and plants to complete a gigantic botanical reproduction of Pope Leo's shield on the sloped lawn in front of the Vatican's governing office.

Visitors to the Vatican Gardens and those climbing to the top of St. Peter's Basilica will be able to see the emblem created from hundreds of colored plants arranged like "tiles of a mosaic," according to a May 28 press release by the governing office.

They kept the same "frame" around the emblem, which does not change: a green tiara made up of dwarf boxwood; a gold key composed of a Euonymus Aureus whose foliage stays golden if cut back regularly; a silver key recreated with the silver curry plant; and the red cord around the keys formed by the bloodleaf plant in the summer and the horned pansy in the winter.

Pope Leo's unique coat of arms pays homage to St. Augustine, the founder of the religious order he joined in his 20s.

The shield is divided diagonally into two. The upper half features a blue background with a white lily or fleur-de-lis, symbolizing the Virgin Mary, but also his French heritage. And the lower half of the shield displays an image common to the religious orders named after and inspired by St. Augustine: a closed book with a heart pierced by an arrow.

To create the blue background, gardeners were able to reuse 400 blue dwarf Ageratums from Pope Francis' shield, and the white lily was made with 50 silver curry plants.

The background of the lower half of the shield is made up of 400 Nightlife red begonias.

The book was made with the help of the Vatican metal shop, which created a metal frame shaped like a closed book. The gardeners filled it with reddish vulcanic gravel to represent the cover and white gravel for the pages, and the pierced heart on top was created with red Blood Leaf plants.

Vatican News said the book and the heart are "a direct reference to the conversion experience of St. Augustine himself, who described his personal encounter with God's word using the phrase: 'Vulnerasti cor meum verbo tuo' -- 'You have pierced my heart with your Word.'"