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April 18, 2021

Taking science back from the culture wars

U.S. Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, director of the Vatican Observatory is pictured at the observatory in Rome in this Dec. 12, 2007, file photo.

In the COVID era, there’s no news like science news — the fastest vaccine development in human history has been news all year.

Published in Canada
July 17, 2019

Being curator of meteorites allows Jesuit to 'find God' in all things

Jesuit Brother Bob Macke and Jesuit Father Gabriele Gionti, an astronomer, prepare to give journalists a tour of the Vatican Observatory at the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Sept. 28, 2018. Brother Macke said that by studying the universe, "we can better appreciate the God who created it."

HOUSTON -- At the Vatican Observatory in Castel Gandolfo near Rome, Jesuit Brother Robert Macke finds his work as the curator of meteorites for the Vatican Observatory -- formally founded in 1891 by Pope Leo XIII -- allows him to, as the Jesuit saying goes, "find God in all things."

Published in Vatican
September 14, 2018

Vatican Observatory holds first workshop with world's meteorite, extraterrestrial curators

Journalists gather around a piece of a meteorite, according to local authorities and scientists, after it was pulled from the bottom of Russia's Chebarkul Lake in 2013.
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy – Rocks, mineral debris and even dust from space are kept in special collections, museums and laboratories all over the world, and the Vatican Observatory took the first small step to help curators make a giant leap in coordinating their efforts globally.
Published in International
May 28, 2017

Vatican stargazers look for divine inspiration

A long exposure at the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope in southeastern Arizona in 2014.

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy – In a forgotten corner of the pope's sprawling summer estate at Castel Gandolfo in the hills outside Rome, an unusual group of astronomers and cosmologists looks to the heavens for divine inspiration.

Published in Vatican
May 12, 2017

Pope Francis urges scientists ‘never to fear truth’

The Rev. Emmanuel Carreira operates the telescope at the Vatican Observatory in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, on June 23, 2005. The Vatican Observatory, one of the world's oldest astronomical institutes, selects young, promising scholars for courses at the papal summer palace.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis told a group of astronomers that scientific questions about the universe and its origins sometimes clash with theology and spiritual beliefs, but he encouraged them to continue their quest for knowledge and "never to fear truth."

Published in Vatican
May 10, 2017

Vatican astronomer: If you're afraid of science, you don't have faith

The Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, Brother Guy Consolmagno, centre, spoke with journalists at the Vatican May 8.

VATICAN CITY – The Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, who has worked as an astronomer and planetary scientist at the Vatican for more than 20 years, told journalists Monday that faith and reason are hardly at odds.

Published in Vatican
February 24, 2017

Vatican astronomers applaud discovery of Earth-sized planets

An artist's depiction shows the possible surface of TRAPPIST-1f, on one of seven newly discovered planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system.

VATICAN CITY – The quest to find life on other planets got a boost when astronomers confirmed the existence of at least seven Earth-sized planets orbiting a red dwarf star just 40 light years away.

Published in International
June 17, 2016

Vatican scientist's work inspired by his faith

Br. Guy Consolmagno said science and faith are not mutually exclusive.

For the budding Catholic scientist, many pundits present two exclusive and diverging paths. A person can take the path of science, reason and logic, or the path of religion, dogma and the intangible.

Published in Youth Speak News
July 15, 2014

Papal astronomer wins recognition for excellence in communication

U.S. Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, an astronomer with the Vatican Observatory, is pictured with the observatory's meteorite collection in this 2006 file photo.

VATICAN CITY - A papal astronomer won recognition for his ability to communicate accurately and clearly the discoveries of planetary science to the general public.

Published in International
June 22, 2012

Space School: Vatican Observatory supports rising stars in astronomy

An international group of students observe the transit of Venus at sunrise from the roof of the papal summer villa in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, June 6. The students attending a Vatican Observatory summer school watched the rare occurrence of the planet Venus crossing the face of the sun.

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy - It looked like a mini-United Nations, but the attendees were wearing shorts and T-shirts and, over coffee, they talked about the birth of star clusters rather than a ban on cluster bombs. Also, the location wasn't Manhattan or Geneva, but a refurbished monastery immersed in the papal gardens behind the pope's summer villa south of Rome.

The 25 young men and women from 23 different countries were future astronomers and astrophysicists brought together by the Vatican Observatory to spend the month of June discussing "The Formation and Evolution of Stellar Clusters," which are groups of stars populating the galaxies.

Published in Features