The Vatican Observatory: Even the church looks towards the sky

Let's discover the universe together through the eyes of the Vatican observatory. astronomical observatory of the Catholic church.

Contrary to what is said, the church has never been against science. There Vatican observatory is an astronomical observatory, built in 1891. Father Francesco Denza proposed to Leo XIII to open the observatory in the Vatican on the tower of the winds where in the past there was already an observatory that had served for the passage from the calendar Giuliano to that Gregorian.

According to official documents, the observatory immediately had the mission of demonstrating to the world that the Church was not obscurantist. Science was not seen as something dangerous that went against the Faith, indeed no veto was placed on the management and type of research that was done within it. That period was difficult for the church because it was accused of obscurantism by the secular culture.

The church proved that there could be priests who were gods at the same time scientists and researchers. An interpretation of the biblical text should be made according to modern knowledge. In fact, ours God he is also the creator of the universe and consequently he is the creator of every form of life that exists in it. These researches, even of other forms of life cannot contradict the Fede. The Vatican observatory initially dealt with observational astronomical scientific research.

From the first projects of the Vatican observatory up to the present day.

His first major project in which he participated was that of photographic mapping of the sky. In 1935 the entire observatory was moved from the Vatican to the Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo and is managed by the company of Jesus under the direction of the Jesuit Guy Joseph Consolmagno. Now the observatory no longer carries out research activities due to the brightness. The new church observatory was built, where it collaborates with universities and centers such as the CERN.