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<b><span style="font-size:31.5pt;font-family:"Museo Sans Cyrl",serif;color:#373737;letter-spacing:-.55pt;mso-ligatures:none">Pope to Vatican Observatory: Church embraces science to find God in Creation<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:14.5pt;font-family:"Museo Sans Cyrl",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none">As he meets with the Vatican Observatory Foundation, Pope Leo XIV upholds the Catholic Church’s
desire to seek God in His Creation through rigorous, honest science.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:21.0pt;background:white"><b><span style="font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none">By Devin Watkins</span></b><span style="font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:21.0pt;background:white"><span style="font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none">Pope Leo XIV held an audience on Monday with the Board of the Vatican Observatory Foundation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:21.0pt;background:white"><span style="font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none">In his address, the Pope recalled that Pope Leo XIII re-founded the Vatican Observatory in 1891, at a time when science
was being presented as a rival source of truth to religion.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:21.0pt;background:white"><span style="font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:21.0pt;background:white"><span style="font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none">The 19th-century Pope said he was re-founding the institution so that, “everyone might see clearly that the Church and
her Pastors are not opposed to true and solid science, whether human or divine, but that they embrace it, encourage it, and promote it with the fullest possible devotion.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:21.0pt;background:white"><span style="font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none">However, in our own times, both faith and science face a more insidious threat from those who deny the very existence
of objective truth, said Pope Leo XIV.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:21.0pt;background:white"><span style="font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:21.0pt;background:white"><span style="font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none">“Too many in our world refuse to acknowledge what both science and the Church plainly teach,” he said, “that we bear
a solemn responsibility for the stewardship of our planet and for the welfare of those who dwell upon it, especially the most vulnerable, whose lives are imperilled by the reckless exploitation of both people and the natural world.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:21.0pt;background:white"><span style="font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:21.0pt;background:white"><span style="font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none">The Church’s desire to study the heavens through astronomy, he added, shows that she embraces “rigorous, honest science”
as an essential aspect of her identity.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:21.0pt;background:white"><span style="font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none">Human beings enjoy the God-given gift to gaze with wonder at the sun, moon, and stars, said Pope Leo.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:21.0pt;background:white"><span style="font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none">As we gaze at the night sky, we enjoy a treasury of beauty open to rich and poor alike, which the Pope noted remains
one of the last truly universal sources of joy in our divided world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:21.0pt;background:white"><span style="font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:21.0pt;background:white"><span style="font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none">“Contemplating the heavens invites us to see our fears and failings in the light of God’s immensity,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:21.0pt;background:white"><span style="font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none">Pope Leo XIV went on to lament that man-made light has blinded us to the lights God has placed in the heavens, which
he said makes the work of the Vatican Observatory more important than ever.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:21.0pt;background:white"><span style="font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none">The work of the Vatican Observatory Foundation, he said, helps students study astronomy through summer schools and workshops.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:21.0pt;background:white"><span style="font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:21.0pt;background:white"><span style="font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none">In this way, the Foundation allows the Vatican Observatory’s telescopes to remain “places where the glory of God’s Creation
is encountered with reverence, depth, and joy.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:21.0pt;background:white"><span style="font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:21.0pt;background:white"><span style="font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none">In conclusion, Pope Leo XIV urged the faithful to never lose sight that the Christian religion is based on the Incarnation,
since God made Himself known through His Creation and sent His only Son to redeem it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:21.0pt;background:white"><span style="font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#373737;mso-ligatures:none">“The hunger to understand Creation more fully,” he said, “is nothing less than a reflection of that restless longing
for God, which lies at the heart of every human soul.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none">Blessings and peace,</span><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none"> </span><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none">Fr Michael</span><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none"> </span><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none">Reverend Michael B. Medas, MSW</span><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none">Catholic Chaplain | Director of Catholic Ministry</span><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</span><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none">W11-012 </span><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none">40 Massachusetts Ave.</span><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none">Cambridge, MA 02139</span><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none"> </span><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none"> </span><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none">“Jesus loves you always, even when you don’t feel worthy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none">When not accepted by others, even by yourself sometimes,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none">He is the one who always accepts you. Only believe, you are precious to Him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none">Bring all you are suffering to His feet, only open your heart to be loved by Him as you are.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-ligatures:none">He will do the rest.” Saint Mother Teresa<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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