Pope Leo XIV marked the 56th anniversary of humanity’s first moon landing with a visit to the Vatican Observatory and a call to Buzz Aldrin.
Newsroom (21/07/2025, Gaudium Press )On Sunday, Pope Leo XIV marked the 56th anniversary of humanity’s first moon landing with a visit to the Vatican Observatory in Castel Gandolfo and a personal phone call to Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin.
Following the traditional Sunday Angelus prayer at his summer residence in the Pontifical Villas, the pontiff toured the Vatican Observatory, a historic institution founded in 1891 by Pope Leo XIII. Accompanied by astronomers and students attending the observatory’s annual summer school, Pope Leo inspected the facility’s telescopes, which have long supported astronomical research from a faith-based perspective. The observatory, rooted in a legacy dating back to Pope Gregory XIII’s 1582 calendar reform commission, is renowned for its world-class meteorite collection, including Martian fragments, and its contributions to celestial scholarship.
In a statement posted to his X account, Pope Leo reflected on his conversation with Aldrin, who, alongside Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins, made history with the 1969 moonwalk. “This evening, 56 years after the Apollo 11 moon landing, I spoke with the astronaut Buzz Aldrin,” the pontiff wrote. “Together we shared the memory of a historic feat, a testimony to human ingenuity, and we reflected on the mystery and greatness of Creation.” He concluded the call by offering blessings to Aldrin, his family, and his colleagues.
The Vatican’s engagement with space exploration is not without precedent. In 2011, Pope Benedict XVI contacted the International Space Station to discuss the planet’s future and environmental challenges. Decades earlier, in 1969, Pope Paul VI sent a radio message to the Apollo 11 crew, hailing them as “conquerors of the Moon.”
Pope Leo’s visit underscores the Vatican’s enduring commitment to bridging faith and science, celebrating human achievement while contemplating the divine mysteries of the cosmos.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Crux Now
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