In a world that often pits science and religion against each other, the Vatican Observatory is offering a powerful counterpoint. Each year, it invites young astronomers from around the globe to experience firsthand how faith and reason, far from being opposed, are deeply intertwined in the pursuit of truth.
“We hope that simply living and working alongside Jesuit astronomers will be the strongest evidence that science and faith work together,” said Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, director of the Vatican Observatory, according to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. He added that this harmony is “a very natural collaboration.”
The Observatory’s summer school, now in its 19th edition since it began in 1986, is held at Castel Gandolfo, Italy. It brings together 24 students—selected from 175 applicants—for a unique blend of academic study, spiritual enrichment, and international camaraderie. “Our only limit is that there can be no more than two students per nation,” Consolmagno explained. “Beyond that, we choose the students who showed the greatest promise… both for their academic ability and for their enthusiasm for living in this historic setting.”
This year’s theme, “Exploring the Universe with the James Webb Space Telescope: The First Three Years,” allows students to grapple with the groundbreaking data from the revolutionary telescope launched on Christmas Day 2021. According to Consolmagno, the telescope “has revolutionized our understanding of the cosmos.” But the learning isn’t limited to technical data. “This allows them to appreciate how important — and difficult — it can be to try to explain to the general public what we have learned,” he said.
For many of the young astronomers, the camp is more than a class — it’s a stepping stone to future careers and a deeper purpose. “We estimate that more than 80% of students continue on to professional astronomy,” Consolmagno noted, while others take the lessons of rigorous inquiry and wonder into other fields. The camp also makes a point of welcoming students from underrepresented and developing nations. “Young, fresh minds are essential to making new discoveries,” Consolmagno emphasized. And when these students return home, they carry with them not only scientific skills but a new understanding of how science can serve their communities and even their faith.
Pope John Paul II once described faith and reason “as the two wings that lift us toward the truth.” Consolmagno hears an echo of that vision in the words of Pope Leo XIV, who recently called for a science that serves truth and is “increasingly humane and respectful of the integrity of the human person.” As Consolmagno reminded ACI Prensa, “Truth itself is the goal… our faith and our science is never complete, never perfect, but always worth pursuing.”
In a time of global uncertainty, the Vatican Observatory continues to form a new generation of scientists — not only with knowledge, but with reverence.
