In its constant attempt to obtain answers about the world around us, the Vatican and leading scientists in the field of cosmology and physics will meet among June 16 and 21 to share their views on ““black holes, gravitational waves and space-time singularities”. This is how the Holy See has defined the theme of this congress, which will be held in Castel Gandolfothe Pope’s summer home.
This is the second conference dedicated to the physics professor and priest of the Catholic University of Louvain, George Lemaître, who proposed the primordial atom hypothesiswhich would later be developed as the theory of big Bang. With this figure as its axis, the Vatican seeks to understand how faith and science complement each other. In fact, as indicated by Father Gabriele Gionti, Jesuit cosmologist, vice director of the Vatican Observatory and one of the protagonists of the future meeting, many opinions of the Church throughout history They have been nourished by both perspectives.
The congress-workshop will have the participation of numerous specialists – among them, two Nobel Prize winners– who will debate widely on topics ranging from the tension in the measurements of the Hubble constant, the enigmatic nature of space-time singularities (including Big Bangs and black holes), to gravitational waves and the search for quantum gravity and its connections with entanglement and foundations of quantum theory.
A meeting between scientists and priests
It is not the first time that astronomy and religion have come together with a scientific objective. Already in September 2023, for examplethe highest Catholic institution -the Vatican- and the highest space institution -NASA- collaborated on the mission to analyze samples from Bennu, an asteroid with great potential for unravel the mysteries of the universe.
On this occasion, however, the dynamics will be based solely on the dialogue: with the support of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), around 40 scientists will attend, including Adam G. Riess and Roger Penrose, both Nobel Prize winners in Physics in 2011 and 2020, respectively, as well as another 150 scholars who will attend. They will connect to the conference online. And on the side of the Holy See, there will be no shortage of brother Guy Consolmagnoplanetologist director of the Vatican Observatory and Don Matteo Galavernicosmologist at Specola, among others.
seek answers to the mysteries of the Universe
What is the true nature of space and time? How to reconcile the laws of quantum mechanics with Einstein’s general relativity that governs the behavior of the gravitational field in the first moments of the universe, the Big Bang? These are some of the issues that will be debated at the congress, for which “the goal is the truth”as expressed by planetologist Consolmagno for the Vatican newsletter.
Thus, beyond extracting fruitful ideas to continue investigating the unknowns previously raised, the conference aims to keeping Lemaître’s legacy alivea clear example of how fusion between science and faith It can result in great discoveries capable of bringing us closer to a more precise understanding of the universe and its origins.
