Sr. Raffaella Petrini, F.S.E, Secretary General of the Vatican City State, visited the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope on March 16, 2024, where she had a tour of the Alice P. Lennon Telescope and the Thomas J. Bannan Astrophysics Facility.
Sister Raffaella serves on the Board of the Vatican Observatory Foundation, and was accompanied by John Lally, VOF Treasurer, Fr. Paul Gabor, S.J., the Observatory’s Vice-Director for Tucson, and Chris Kennedy, VOF development director.
She also toured our neighbors at the Mount Graham International Observatory: the Submillimeter Telescope and the Large Binocular Telescope.
“My visit to the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT) on Mt. Graham offered me a wonderful opportunity to appreciate in a very tangible way the complexity of the new technology used by the Vatican Observatory, in collaboration with the Steward Observatory of the University of Arizona, to pursuing long-term research programs in the field of astronomy.
The Observatory research group is carrying forth several current studies and fruitful international collaborations, becoming one of the world’s largest and most modern centers for observational astronomy. This work is particularly important for the Vatican City State because it fulfills two relevant tasks: not only does it contribute to scientific development in the field of astronomy, but, most importantly, it promotes a fruitful, ongoing dialogue between faith and science, both pillars of true integral human development.”
Sr. Raffaella Petrini
