The Pope visits the Vatican Observatory on the anniversary of the moon landing

Vatican City.- Pope Leo XIV visited this Sunday the Vatican Astronomical Observatory of Castel Gandolfo, the town near Rome where he spends his holidays, coinciding with the 56th anniversary of the arrival of man on the moon, the Holy See reported.

"At the last hour of the morning today, the anniversary of the moon landing in 1969, after the Angelus prayer, Pope Leo XIV visited the telescopes and instrumentation of the domes of the Vatican Observatory of Castel Gandolfo," it is indicated in a brief statement. The pontiff was able to observe space through the telescopes of this unique and historic astronomical observatory, known as 'Specola Vaticana' (from the Latin 'specula', place of surveillance), one of the oldest on the planet, but which has been updated to continue contributing to the international scientific debate. The Vatican owns several telescopes in different locations to delve into the unfathomable secrets of Creation, and two stations have been located for almost a century at the popes' summer residence, while another modern and fully robotized one was opened in 1993 on Mount Graham in Arizona, United States (Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope - VATT). The visit of Leo XIV to the Observatory took place after the Sunday Angelus prayer, when he again raised his voice against the violence in the Middle East, following the Israeli attack last Thursday on the parish of the Holy Family, the only Catholic church in Gaza, which caused three deaths and several injuries. "There can be no justification for collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, or the forced displacement of inhabitants," the Pope said, addressing the international community in Castel Gandolfo before hundreds of people who acclaimed him. The one this Sunday was the last official act scheduled in the calendar of Leo XIV before returning to the Vatican after two weeks of rest, which were supposed to end today, although they will be extended "a few days" as announced by Leo XIV himself. Later, the Vatican Press Office confirmed that Leo XIV will still remain in that summer residence until Tuesday afternoon.