Why does the Vatican need an ?
The Catholic church has long had an interest in astronomy. We can trace the beginning of this to 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII wanted to reform the calendar to settle the date of Easter.
What role did Galileo play in the history of the observatory?
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Put briefly, I’m here thanks to Galileo. Because Galileo suffered, there was a need to do something to show that the church is not against science. It was in large part to change the image of the church – to show the world that it is not against science but encourages and promotes it – that Pope Leo XIII refounded the observatory in 1891.
Does religion affect your research agenda?
Religion doesn’t affect the choice of areas for research. I had a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI in 2008 and he never said you have to study this or that. We have complete freedom for research, and the topics we study are the topics that the astronomers are interested in: planetary science, clusters of galaxies, cosmology and the big bang. I study nearby galaxies. A Jesuit joining us in September will study .
What would be the religious implications of the discovery of extraterrestrial life?
I don’t see any serious difficulty for Catholic theology if – “IF” with capital letters – we find life elsewhere in the universe.
Vatican astronomers are Jesuits, and take a vow of obedience to Jesuit superiors. Could there be a conflict between a conclusion you reached scientifically and something your Jesuit superior told you to believe?
That situation is almost impossible because my superior would never tell me about science. What there might be is an apparent conflict – I repeat the word “apparent” – between the results of science and faith. Scientists research the truth in the universe. There is also religious truth. We don’t believe there are two truths, we believe God is the truth and the two kinds of truth coincide in God. At the end we will find an explanation, maybe not in this life but in the next life.
Is the conflict between intelligent design and evolution an example of an “apparent” conflict between science and religion?
No, that is a real conflict. The problem is when religion enters the world of science, the scientific method; that could be the problem with intelligent design. On the other side there is a danger when scientists use science outside of the scientific method, to make philosophical and religious statements – using science for a goal that science is not meant for. So, for example, you cannot use science to deny the existence of God. You can believe whatever you want but you cannot use science to prove that God does not exist.
Does your work as a scientist affect your religious beliefs?
I would say that my work as a scientist helps me to be a religious person, a priest.
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studies extragalactic astronomy. He has been director of the since 2006
