"THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL IS MY BROTHER"

FATHER FUNES INTERVIEW



FRIDAY, MAY 23, 2008

"THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL IS MY BROTHER"
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ASTRONOMY AND FAITH IN AN INTERVIEW WITH FATHER FUNES, DIRECTOR OF THE VATICAN OBSERVATORY (L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO) -- MAY 14, 2008



The extraterrestrial is my brother

“Where we came forth, and once more saw the stars.” Cites Dante—the famous verse that closes the last canto of The Inferno—to describe astronomy’s mission. This is above all “giving back to men the just dimension of a small and fragile creature before the incommensurable scenario of billions and billions of galaxies.” And then we discover that we are not the only beings to inhabit the Universe? The hypothesis does not unsettle it much more so. It is possible to believe in God and in extraterrestrials. The existence of other worlds and other life, even more evolved than ours, can be accepted without this interfering in the discussion the faith of creation, the incarnation, the redemption. Words of an astronomer and of a priest. Words of José Gabriel Funes, Director of the Vatican Observatory. Argentinian, 45 years old, Jesuit, from August 2006, Father Funes has the keys to the historical Pontifical Palace of Castel Gandolfo, which Pius XI gave to the Vatican Observatory in 1935. Around one year he gave it back, to receive that of the Basilian monastery situated on the border between the Pontifical Villa and Albano, where the observatory’s study, laboratories and libraries were moved. It brings together courtly and serene styles that from soft detachment of earthly things to whom is used to having eyes turned heavenward. A little bit of a philosopher and a little bit of a researcher like all astronomers. Contemplating the sky is for him the most authentic human act that can be done. Because—he explains to “L’Osservatore Romano”—it enlarges our heart and helps us to get out of so many hells that humanity has created on the earth: violence, war, poverty, oppression.”

LOR: How did the Church’s and Popes’ interest in astronomy come to be?

FUNES: The origins can be traced back to Gregory XIII, who was the artifice of the calendar reform in 1582. Father Cristoforo Clavio, Jesuit of the Collegio Romano, was part of the commission that studied this reform. Between 1700 and 1800, three observatories sprung up by papal initiative. Then in 1891, in a moment of conflict between the church world and the scientific world, Pope Leo XIII wanted to found, or better re-found, the Vatican Observatory. He did it precisely to show that the Church was not against science, but promoted a “true and solid” science, after his own words. The Observatory was therefore born of an essentially apologetic scope, but with the years became part of the dialogue of the Church with the world.

LOR: Does the study of the laws of the Cosmos bring us closer to or farther away from God?

FUNES: Astronomy has a deep human value. It is a science that opens the heart and the mind. It helps us to put our life, our hopes and our problems into right perspective. In this sense—and here I speak as a priest and as a Jesuit—it is also a huge apostolic tool that can bring one closer to God.

LOR: Give us some examples.

FUNES: Sufficient to remember that about thirty craters of the moon are named after ancient Jesuit astronomers. And that a solar system asteroid has been named after my predecessor to the Observatory, Father George Coyne. One could also recall the importance of contributions such as those of Father O’Connell to the individualization of the “green ray” or of Brother Consolmagno to the declassification of Pluto. It goes without saying the work of Father Corbally—vice president of our astronomical center in Tuscon—who has worked with a NASA team on the recent discovery of residual asteroids in the formation of binary star systems.

LOR: Can the Church’s interest in the study of the universe be explained by the fact that astronomy is the only science that has to do with the infinite and therefore with God?

FUNES: To be precise, the universe is not infinite. It is very big, but finite, because it has an age: about 14 billion years, given our most recent findings. And if it has an age, this means that it also has a limit in space. The universe was born in a determined moment and from then is continually expanding.

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