When Pope Leo XIV granted a private audience to talk about the stars and planets as “a gift given to every human being,” two people from the Diocese of Allentown were there.
The Pope was meeting with the members of the Vatican Observatory Foundation. Linda Lapos and her husband Paul Wirth, of Allentown, serve on its board of directors. They are parishioners of St. Thomas More, Allentown.
“The night sky is a treasury of beauty open to all, rich and poor alike,” Pope Leo told the group of about 25 people, “and in a world so painfully divided, it remains one of the last truly universal sources of joy.”
The Vatican has operated an observatory continuously since 1891 when another Pope Leo – Pope Leo XIII – launched it to help prove that the Church is not opposed to science.
Today, a dozen astronomers – Jesuit priests and brothers from around the world – do astronomical research at the observatory’s headquarters in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, and at a mountaintop telescope in southern Arizona. The Vatican Observatory also works to educate future astronomers and Catholic school teachers and students.
The Vatican Observatory Foundation is an American non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and raising funds for the operation of the Vatican Observatory.
“As a Catholic and a surgeon, I’ve always believed that faith and science can work hand in hand,” said Lapos. “So the Vatican Observatory Foundation is a natural fit as part of my volunteer work.”
Wirth and Lapos are also working on the foundation’s latest initiative, to provide dioceses across the country with information they can use to teach Catholic school students about astronomy, and to help dioceses facilitate parish discussions about faith and science.
The couple was in Rome for a foundation board meeting, and the private meeting with Pope Leo was part of the schedule.
“I am deeply grateful to you, the members of the Vatican Observatory Foundation,” the Pope said, “and I thank you for your faithful and generous support of the Vatican Observatory – a cherished institution of the Vatican at the service of the Holy See and the Universal Church.”
On the day he met with the Foundation’s board, Pope Leo also met with the prime minister of Sudan, the Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland, the Archbishop of Vienna, and several other groups and individuals.
Lapos and Wirth said they found Pope Leo to be welcoming, friendly, and humble. “It was like talking with an old friend,” said Wirth, a retired Communications Director of the Diocese of Allentown. “It was very generous of Pope Leo to take time out of his schedule to meet with us.”
“We told him we were from Allentown,” said Lapos, “and he recognized the name, probably from his time at Villanova University.”
For more information about the Vatican Observatory, go to www.VaticanObservatory.org.
Header Photo, Paul Wirth and Linda Lapos meet Pope Leo XIV. Photo Below: the cover of the Vatican Observatory Foundation annual report, which shows the Pope looking into one of the older telescopes at Castel Gandolfo.
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