(30 Oct 09 - RV) Astronomers from around the world arrived in Rome on Friday for
a two-day symposium organized by the Governorate of the Vatican City State and the
Vatican Observatory. The highlight of the event was a meeting on Friday with Pope
Benedict XVI. We have this report...
Full
Text of Pope Benedict XVI's Speech to Members of Symposium on International Year of
Astronomy
Your Eminence, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to greet
this assembly of distinguished astronomers from throughout the world meeting in the
Vatican for the celebration of the International Year of Astronomy, and I thank Cardinal
Giovanni Lajolo for his kind words of introduction. This celebration, which marks
the four hundredth anniversary of Galileo Galilei’s first observations of the heavens
by telescope, invites us to consider the immense progress of scientific knowledge
in the modern age and, in a particular way, to turn our gaze anew to the heavens in
a spirit of wonder, contemplation and commitment to the pursuit of truth, wherever
it is to be found. Your meeting also coincides with the inauguration of the new
facilities of the Vatican Observatory in Castel Gandolfo. As you know, the history
of the Observatory is in a very real way linked to the figure of Galileo, the controversies
which surrounded his research, and the Church’s attempt to attain a correct and fruitful
understanding of the relationship between science and religion. I take this occasion
to express my gratitude not only for the careful studies which have clarified the
precise historical context of Galileo’s condemnation, but also for the efforts of
all those committed to ongoing dialogue and reflection on the complementarity of faith
and reason in the service of an integral understanding of man and his place in the
universe. I am particularly grateful to the staff of the Observatory, and to the
friends and benefactors of the Vatican Observatory Foundation, for their efforts to
promote research, educational opportunities and dialogue between the Church and the
world of science. The International Year of Astronomy is meant not least to recapture
for people throughout our world the extraordinary wonder and amazement which characterized
the great age of discovery in the sixteenth century. I think, for example, of the
exultation felt by the scientists of the Roman College who just a few steps from here
carried out the observations and calculations which led to the worldwide adoption
of the Gregorian calendar. Our own age, poised at the edge of perhaps even greater
and more far-ranging scientific discoveries, would benefit from that same sense of
awe and the desire to attain a truly humanistic synthesis of knowledge which inspired
the fathers of modern science. Who can deny that responsibility for the future of
humanity, and indeed respect for nature and the world around us, demand – today as
much as ever – the careful observation, critical judgement, patience and discipline
which are essential to the modern scientific method? At the same time, the great
scientists of the age of discovery remind us also that true knowledge is always directed
to wisdom, and, rather than restricting the eyes of the mind, it invites us to lift
our gaze to the higher realm of the spirit. Knowledge, in a word, must be understood
and pursued in all its liberating breadth. It can certainly be reduced to calculation
and experiment, yet if it aspires to be wisdom, capable of directing man in the light
of his first beginnings and his final ends, it must be committed to the pursuit of
that ultimate truth which, while ever beyond our complete grasp, is nonetheless the
key to our authentic happiness and freedom (cf. Jn 8:32), the measure of our true
humanity, and the criterion for a just relationship with the physical world and with
our brothers and sisters in the great human family. Dear friends, modern cosmology
has shown us that neither we, nor the earth we stand on, is the centre of our universe,
composed of billions of galaxies, each of them with myriads of stars and planets.
Yet, as we seek to respond to the challenge of this Year – to lift up our eyes to
the heavens in order to rediscover our place in the universe – how can we not be caught
up in the marvel expressed by the Psalmist so long ago? Contemplating the starry
sky, he cried out with wonder to the Lord: “When I see your heavens, the work of your
fingers, the moon and the stars which you set in place, what is man that you should
be mindful of him, or the son of man, that you should care for him?” (Ps 8:4-5).
It is my hope that the wonder and exaltation which are meant to be the fruits of this
International Year of Astronomy will lead beyond the contemplation of the marvels
of creation to the contemplation of the Creator, and of that Love which is the underlying
motive of his creation – the Love which, in the words of Dante Alighieri, “moves the
sun and the other stars” (Paradiso XXXIII, 145). Revelation tells us that, in the
fullness of time, the Word through whom all things were made came to dwell among us.
In Christ, the new Adam, we acknowledge the true centre of the universe and all history,
and in him, the incarnate Logos, we see the fullest measure of our grandeur as human
beings, endowed with reason and called to an eternal destiny. With these reflections,
dear friends, I greet all of you with respect and esteem, and I offer prayerful good
wishes for your research and teaching. Upon you, your families and dear ones I cordially
invoke Almighty God’s blessings of wisdom, joy, and peace.