Sharing joy of discovery contributes to peace, pope tells astronomers

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Scientific discovery and knowledge are meant to benefit all of humanity, Pope Leo XIV told young astronomers.

"Be generous in sharing what you learn and what you experience, as best you can and however you can," he told them during an audience at the Vatican June 16.

The pope spoke to dozens of young astronomy students and scholars who were taking part in a monthlong summer school sponsored by the Vatican Observatory and held at the observatory's headquarters in Castel Gandolfo, outside of Rome.

The summer program in astronomy and astrophysics, held every two years, accepts a small group of promising university and graduate students, mostly from developing nations, who are specializing in astronomical sciences. 

This year's program was focusing on exploring the universe with data from the James Webb Space Telescope, and the telescope's contributions to the study of the birth of stars, the formation and evolution of galaxies, and the origin of life in planetary systems. 

Speaking to the international group in English, Pope Leo told them to "not hesitate to share the joy and the amazement born of your contemplation of the 'seeds' that, in the words of St. Augustine, God has sown in the harmony of the universe."

"The more joy you share, the more joy you create, and in this way, through your pursuit of knowledge, each of you can contribute to building a more peaceful and just world," he said.

The James Webb telescope is a "truly remarkable instrument," he said. "For the first time, we are able to peer deeply into the atmosphere of exoplanets where life may be developing and study the nebulae where planetary systems themselves are forming" as well as trace "the ancient light of distant galaxies, which speaks of the very beginning of our universe."

"The authors of sacred Scripture, writing so many centuries ago, did not have the benefit of this privilege," the pope said. "Yet their poetic and religious imagination pondered what the moment of creation must have been like," speaking of the newly created stars rejoicing, honoring their creator.

"In our own day, do not the James Webb images also fill us with wonder, and indeed a mysterious joy, as we contemplate their sublime beauty?" he asked the students.

The pope highlighted the generosity of making the space telescope's images available to the general public.

He reminded the students they, too, have been given "the knowledge and training that can enable you to use this amazing instrument in order to expand our knowledge of the cosmos of which we are a tiny but meaningful part." 

"Each of you is part of a much greater community," which includes those who spent the past 30 years working to build the telescope and "develop the scientific ideas that it was designed to test," he said.

"Along with the contribution of your fellow scientists, engineers and mathematicians, it was also with the support of your families and so many of your friends that you have been able to appreciate and take part in this wonderful enterprise, which has enabled us to see the world around us in a new way," he said.

"Never forget, then, that what you are doing is meant to benefit all of us," he added.