IT was a risky business in the 16th century to be a Catholic priest pondering
myriad worlds beyond Earth and the farthest reaches of the Universe. Giordano
Bruno learnt that the hard way; he was burnt alive. Nowadays the prospects are
rather better. In fact, a modern-day Bruno might well find himself on the
shortlist for a job in the Vatican鈥檚 most unlikely department鈥攊ts
observatory.
The headquarters of the Vatican Observatory are found in the Pope鈥檚 summer
residence, in the town of Castel Gandolfo just southeast of Rome. Under its
American director Father George Coyne, a staff of 10 Jesuit priests works at
both the headquarters and a Vatican research centre at the Steward Observatory
of the University of Arizona. They scan the skies for everything from fledgling
stars with newborn planets to clues about the mysterious dark matter in the
Universe, and even shape the theory of the big bang.
In fact, the Vatican Observatory seems little different from any other
astronomical research institute. Its Web site proclaims that it is not scanning
the heavens for signs from God. Nor is it out to convert. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not an institute
that does anything other than scientific research,鈥� says Coyne. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not
proselytising; we鈥檙e not out to baptise atheist scientists.鈥�
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So what鈥檚 in it for the Vatican? Though Pope Pius XII (1939-58) was a keen
amateur astronomer, the present Pope has no particularly astronomical bent.
There are no scientists in the Vatican itself and, according to Coyne, the
observatory鈥檚 annual report always lies unread on the Vatican鈥檚 shelves. So why
fund this work at all? 鈥淔or them it鈥檚 a PR exercise, but in a more sophisticated
sense,鈥� says Coyne. 鈥淭hey see it as contributing to the life of the Church, and
showing that the Church has a wider interest in human culture.鈥�
The choice of an observatory鈥攔ather than a biological research centre,
for instance鈥攊s simply a legacy of history, according to Coyne. The
Catholic Church鈥檚 involvement in astronomy dates back to the 1500s, when Pope
Gregory XIII set Jesuit mathematicians and astronomers the task of gathering
data to reform the Julian calendar, which had become hopelessly out of line with
the seasons. Later, at the end of the 19th century, Pope Leo XIII decided to
polish up the Church鈥檚 intellectual profile. 鈥淭he Church was being accused of
obscurantism and anti-intellectualism鈥攊n some senses justly so,鈥� says
Coyne.
Nettled, Leo XIII determined to show that 鈥渢he 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 dedication鈥�.
But what kind of science to choose? Memories of the Church鈥檚 infamous clashes
with Bruno and Galileo were fading, but Darwin鈥檚 evolutionary ideas were
becoming a hotbed of controversy. So by then, astronomy seemed one of the least
contentious subjects to choose.
The Vatican Observatory was duly built behind the dome of St Peter鈥檚. But in
1933, after the skies became obscured by light pollution, the observatory moved
to Castel Gandolfo. In the 1960s, however, the skies there became impossible
too. So when Coyne was made director in 1978, he set about finding an
alternative observing site.
In collaboration with the University of Arizona, the Vatican Observatory
built a 2-metre telescope called the Vatican Advanced Technology
Telescope鈥攖he first to use a thin, light mirror created in a rotating
furnace. The VATT was built on Mount Graham in Arizona and completed in 1993.
The Vatican鈥檚 share of the funding needed to build and run it鈥�$3
million鈥攚as well beyond its resources, but donations of about $1
million from two devout American Catholics helped to bridge the gap.
Cheap labour
Nowadays, life at the observatory is pretty much the same as life for
astronomers anywhere. But because the Vatican wants its observatory to be
clearly a Church institution, it has limited recruitment of astronomers to
Jesuit priests. That鈥檚 also because few others would be impressed by the salary.
At Coyne鈥檚 last count, the priests earned an average of $13 a day.
The Vatican鈥檚 list of research projects, shaped by the interests of the
Jesuit astronomers who arrive, includes classification of stars鈥攖o shed
some light on the formation and evolution of the Galaxy鈥攖he evolution of
binary stars through mass exchange, and the searches for gravitational lensing.
Two of the astronomers have recently discovered the first possible candidates
for MACHOs, heavy dark objects in the halo of our Galaxy.
There is one thing, though, that sets scientists at the observatory apart
from their secular colleagues: part of their brief is to try to bridge the gap
between science and religion. Many scientists would argue that if there is a
gap, the Catholic Church created it. After all, it took until October this year
for the Church to acknowledge evolution as more than mere hypothesis鈥�114
years after Darwin鈥檚 death. And it took 300 years for Galileo to be formally
pardoned. At least, now, Coyne and his colleagues are making every effort to
reconcile rigorous science with religion.
But the current vogue for 鈥渟cientific theology鈥濃�攕uch as Frank Tipler鈥檚
The Physics of Immortality, published in 1994, cuts little ice with
Coyne. Tipler predicts that life will eventually spread uniformly through the
Universe, which will later collapse down to a 鈥渂ig crunch鈥�. This is the 鈥淥mega
point鈥�, which he equates to a physical God鈥攁 computer capable of
processing an infinite amount of information, and of reincarnating all life that
has ever lived. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 absurd,鈥� says Coyne.
Equally bizarre to Coyne are Stephen Hawking鈥檚 theological interpretations of
his 鈥渘o boundary condition鈥� theory, outlined in A Brief History of Time
. Hawking suggests that the much sought after theory of quantum gravity could
allow space-time to be finite in extent yet have nothing that forms a boundary
or edge. At no time would the laws of physics break down, and there would be no
defined point of creation鈥擰ED, there is no need for God as a creator. 鈥淚
certainly like his idea of no initial singularity鈥攊t鈥檚 fascinating,鈥� says
Coyne. 鈥淏ut God is not a boundary condition of the Universe.鈥�
While he is impatient with these scientific attempts to take on theology,
however, he is equally exasperated by attempts to over-interpret the Bible in
terms of modern astronomical theory. He recalls how a Talmudic scholar who also
had a PhD in physics was once puzzled by the fact that, according to Genesis,
light was created before the stars. The student鈥檚 explanation was that the
鈥渓ight鈥� must have been the cosmic background radiation, the microwaves that
today fill the Universe as a remnant of the big bang. 鈥淭he cosmic background
radiation鈥攖hought of in the 1920s, discovered in the 1950s, written about
around 1000 years before Christ,鈥� Coyne says, drily. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 really
蝉辞尘别迟丑颈苍驳.鈥�
Two cultures
But Coyne does believe that, provided the two cultures respect their
differences, they can set up a useful dialogue. After all, if Aristotelian
cosmology so profoundly influenced the Catholic faith for centuries, why can
modern scientific views not shape an evolving theology?
Take, for instance, what Coyne describes as the 鈥渄ifficult problem of
miracles鈥�. These biblical magic spells are contrary to his view that God created
the Universe with a complete set of natural laws. For God to make an exception
one day seems, to him, too fickle. But could quantum physics, chaos and
complexity have anything to say about these events? Coyne suggests they show
that not everything can be predicted with traditional Newtonian determinism.
鈥淭he exceptions are there in nature itself,鈥� he says.
One aspect of the relationship between science and religion that Coyne is fed
up with is the recent excitement about alien life, fuelled by the apparent
discovery of fossil remnants in a Martian meteorite, and the rash of new planets
that have been spotted circling alien stars. 鈥淚鈥檝e had it up to here with
extraterrestrial life,鈥� says Coyne. 鈥淲ould they be free from original sin? Would
we baptise them? I don鈥檛 even know if they would be people. Let鈥檚 just wait and
蝉别别.鈥�
The Vatican Observatory鈥檚 Web site is at
http://clavius.as.arizona.edu/vo/.