Page 3 - Summer Solemnities - Venture

the early twentieth century, and electricity lit up buildings and streets every night. It became too bright to see the stars.
So, the observatory was moved twenty miles away to Castel Gandolfo, the Vatican gardens south of Rome. Some years later, Rome’s city lights grew too bright even for
this distant location. Vatican astronomers searched for someplace even darker. They found it in the American Southwest.
In the 1980s, work began on a new telescope in the middle of the Arizona desert. It is the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT). The telescope is set on a mountain that is more than 10,000 feet high. Few visitors want to drive up the rugged road to the telescope and its observatory. All this keeps the sky dark enough for astronomers to see the stars better.
From these two locations
in Rome and the United States, Vatican astronomers have made important contributions to science.
For instance, Brother Guy worked with other scientists to observe the fine details of
a ring of icy objects at the outer edge of our solar system called the Kuiper (KAI-per) Belt. Studying distant objects like these helps scientists better understand how galaxies and our own solar system were formed.
It isn’t only astronomers who are interested in space. When astronauts first landed on the moon in 1969,
Pope Saint Paul VI spoke
to them and gave them a blessing, saying, “Glory to God! And honor to you, the architects of this great space undertaking!”
Since that time, popes from Saint John Paul II to
Pope Francis have made “phone calls” to astronauts on board the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station (ISS). They eagerly ask the astronauts questions about what it is like to be in space.
In a conversation with Pope Francis, ISS astronaut Randy Bresnik explained, “What gives me the greatest joy every day is to be able to look outside and see God’s creation from his perspective. People cannot come up here and see the indescribable beauty of the Earth and not be touched in their souls,” he said.
This is a view shared
by those who observe the heavens from down here on earth. At the entrance of the Vatican observatory in Rome, a marble plaque welcomes visitors with the observatory’s motto in Latin. Translated into English, it reads, “Come let us adore the Creator God.”
1 Why do you think it says “Come Let us Adore the Creator God” at the Vatican Observatory?
2 Name some ways Brother Guy serves the Church.
3 How can learning about science help you honor and praise God?
Brother Guy is a member of the Jesuit order, which was founded by Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Jesuit brothers share the same vows as Jesuit priests and live in community like them. But many choose to serve God in professions such as doctors, teachers, social workers—or scientists like Brother Guy.
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