For his 100th birthday three years ago, Pope Francis had written him a letter, calling him “a faithful instrument in the hands of God.” Father Sabino Maffeo – a Jesuit, and a major player in Vatican Radio – died on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, at the residence of St. Peter Canisius on Via dei Penitenzieri in Rome.
Born in Somma Vesuviana on Nov. 1, 1922, he had attended the apostolic school of the Jesuit fathers in Loreto from the age of 15. He studied philosophy and theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University and completed his degree in physics between Rome’s La Sapienza University and the University of Bologna. He was ordained a priest in 1953. During his long life he held many positions: he was professor of physics and religion at the Massimo Institute in Rome – of which he was also rector -, provincial of the Roman province of the Society from 1968 to 1973, and technical director of Vatican Radio from 1973 to 1985. In the mid-1980s he moved to the Vatican Specola where he was first superior and then also deputy administrative director.
Many had occasion to get to know him because he used to welcome groups of visitors with great affability. During those years he also dealt with the history of astronomy and wrote the volume La Specola Vaticana: Nove Papi una Missione (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2001). Since 2018 for health reasons he had moved to the infirmary of the Jesuit fathers in the community of St. Peter Canisius.
– Translated from an L’Osservatore Romano article, provided by Fr. Paul Gabor, SJ
See also:
A Tribute to Father Sabino Maffeo by Fr. Gabriele Gionti, S.J.
Father Sabino Maffeo, S.J. Gets an Asteroid Named After Him
Vatican Erects Powerful Radio Antenna
History-of-the-Vatican-Observatory
Oddly, Fr. Maffeo is not mentioned on the Wikipedia page for the Vatican Radio.
