Overview

• Leo’s visit represented his first time at the Pontifical Villas Observatory since his election, during which he inspected key telescopes alongside astronomers and students.
• Founded in 1891 and tracing its origins to a 1582 papal calendar reform, the Vatican Observatory blends meteorite research with theological inquiry.
• In a Sunday phone call, the pope blessed Aldrin, his family and his collaborators and reflected on Creation’s mystery as he honored the Apollo 11 mission.
• Buzz Aldrin, now 95, was the second person to walk on the Moon and famously took communion on the lunar surface.
• The outreach continues a papal legacy of space engagement, recalling Pope Benedict XVI’s 2011 call to the ISS and Pope Paul VI’s 1969 radio message to Apollo astronauts.