Vatican Observatory director happy with Mars landing

The Vatican Observatory director, Fr José Gabriel Funes, has welcomed the successful landing of the Mars science rover Curiosity.  He explained that Catholics have nothing to fear from space exploration.

“We are not afraid of science, we are not afraid of new results, new discoveries,” he said.  “That’s the reason why the Catholic Church has an observatory.  We are not afraid of the truth.  Whatever the truth might be, we are open to new results, once they are confirmed by the scientific community.”

For the next two years or so,  Curiosity will explore the crater area on Mars for signs of favourable conditions for microbial life, according to NASA.  Fr. Funes said that the search for extra-terrestrial life is one of the things that has motivated humanity to explore space. 

“Until now, we do not have any evidence for life.  But still, the search for life is worthwhile and we can learn many things,” he told Catholic News Agency (CNA).

Fr Funes said the rover’s name (Curiosity) is apt.  “Human beings are basically curious,” he told Vatican Radio on August 6.  “We want to know how many things in the universe work; the logic, the ‘logos’ in the universe.”

The priest explained that this drive for knowledge has a basis in the nature of creation.  “Because there is rationality in the universe, we can do science,” he said.

After a 36-week flight from Earth, the rover touched down on Mars early Monday morning near the base of a 4.8km tall mountain inside Gale Crater.  The Curiosity rover has sent back wide-angle images of the Martian surface.  It will send back more images and scientific measurements throughout its operations. 

The €2.0 billion mission is run out of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, USA.

The Vatican Observatory is based at the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, Italy.  Its origins date back to Pope Gregory XIII’s reform of the calendar in the 16th century.  Pope Leo XIII formally refounded the present observatory in 1891.

by Ann Marie Foley