God set them in the firmament of the heavens

Today, Pope Benedict XVI visited the new location of the Vatican Observatory at Castel Gandolfo just outside of Rome in Italy.

The Vatican has long had an interest in astronomy. The Vatican Observatory was founded in 1578 by Pope Gregory XIII as a committee to study the data and implications involved in the reform of the calendar that occurred in 1582 --- what is commonly known as the Gregorian Calendar still in use today.

After having an observatory for more than 3 centuries in Rome, it was moved to the grounds of the Pope's summer residence at Castel Gandolfo in the 1930's in order to get away from the city lights. In the last year, the observatory was moved to a renovated convent further out from the Pope's summer residence in order to give the scientists and researchers there more room. They have moved their 22,000 volumes of scientific works including early works of Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Kepler and others. And there is also a large collection of meteorites.

In conjunction with the observatory there in Italy, the Vatican has opened a second site in the 1980's named the Vatican Observatory Research Group in Tucson, Arizona with the University of Arizona. There, away from city lights, they are able to observe even more details. It is considered one of the premier observatories in the world. The website of the Vatican Observatory can be found by clicking here.

Another interesting fact about astronomy and the Vatican ... Georges Lemaitre is the professor of physics and astronomy who proposed the Big Bang Theory of the origin of the universe. It was a marked change in theories up to that time and better described what astronomers were measuring in the heavens. He became famous and traveled across the United States giving a series of lectures with another physicist named Albert Einstein.

Professor Lemaitre taught physics and astronomy at Catholic University at Louvain in Belgium. There, he was known as Monsignor Lemaitre: he was a Catholic priest.


In this international year of astronomy, the Vatican and the Observatory have released a book of photos from their telescopes that includes quotes from various Popes. The book is printed by Our Sunday Visitor. Click here to purchase it on Amazon. The following is a description:

Why does the starlit sky hold such a profound fascination for us?
Perhaps because it is there that we encounter, commingled, the mystery of light and darkness two primal experiences connected with the beginning and end of human life.

Perhaps it comes from seeing the order, both overt and occult, in the movement of celestial spheres, with which we sense ourselves secretly involved.

Perhaps it is because we feel so small before the starry universe and in this way we begin to become aware within ourselves of the grand questions regarding our existence and our passing through life.

Why are there telescopes on the roof of the Pope's Summer home in Castel Gandolfo?

For more than 100 years, the Vatican has supported an astronomical observatory. But that should come as no surprise; from even before the Gregorian Reform of the Calendar in 1582, indeed dating back to the invention of the University (where studying astronomy was a requirement for anyone wanting a doctorate in philosophy or theology!) the Church has not only supported astronomical research...it has seen the study of the Heavens as a way of getting to know the Creator!

In honor of the International Year of Astronomy, the Vatican and its Observatory is delighted to present this small expression of support, filled with beautiful images from the Vatican's telescopes and wisdom from the Popes, to show that indeed.