Pope Leo XIV Visits Vatican’s Astronomical Observatory - Ital

Pope Leo XIV visits the Vatican’s Astronomical Observatory (or Specola Vaticana) in Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, Italy, where he is on holidays on July 20, 2025. The Specola Vaticana can be considered one of the oldest astronomical observatories in the world. Its origins date back to the second half of the 16th century, when Pope Gregory XIII had the Tower of Winds built in the Vatican in 1578, and invited Jesuit astronomers and mathematicians of the Roman College to prepare a reform of the calendar, which had been promulgated in 1582. Since then, with significant continuity, the Holy See has never stopped showing an interest in and supporting astronomical research. Pius XI thus ordered that the Specola be transferred to his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo on the Alban Hills, some 25 kilometres south of Rome. In that environment so rich in history, a modern Observatory was re-founded and entrusted to Jesuits in 1935. It was equipped with three new telescopes and a laboratory for astrophysics, capable of sp

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• 2025/7/20 00:00:00

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