In an interview with The Times newspaper this week, Br Guy Consolmagno SJ, the Jesuit brother appointed by Pope Francis in 2015 to be the Director of the Vatican Observatory, called for there to be a truce between faith and science.
In the interview, Consolmagno is quoted as saying “you don’t have to be an atheist to believe in the Big Bang, which is convenient because the guy who invented the [concept] was a Catholic priest [Georges Lemaître].”
Indeed, Consolmagno asserts that science tries to understand “which domino hits which domino”, while religion asks “why do we have dominoes in the first place?”.
The article reveals that Consolmagno “is often asked whether the star that guided the Three Wise Men to the new-born Jesus in the Nativity story can be traced to an identifiable celestial phenomenon.” He replies that “if you’re looking for the star to be proof God exists, it’s a terrible proof” but, using his extensive knowledge, says that 6BC is “as good a guess as any for when Christ was born”.
The interview is currently behind a paywall but for those interested, the article is here.
Consolmagno entered the Society of Jesus in 1989 and took his First Vows as a brother in 1991. In addition to his role as Director of the Vatican Observatory, he also serves as curator of the Vatican Meteorite collection. This week, he delivered the Von Hügel Lecture at The Von Hügel Institute for Critical Catholic Inquiry, University of Cambridge. More information about that can be found here.
Jesuit brothers have played an important role alongside their priestly counterparts since the Society of Jesus was founded.
Jesuit brothers include Br Giuseppe Castiglione, who served as an artist in the imperial court of three Qing emperors and, more recently, Br Rick Curry, who founded the National Theatre Workshop of the Handicapped in New York City. In our own Province of the Society, Jesuits in Britain, Br Stephen Power was recently appointed to be Socius, assistant to the Provincial Superior. Commenting, Br Stephen said: "Jesuit brothers are free to serve in a very flexible way wherever they are most needed, free from the somewhat constraining factors of more purely priestly ministries”.
For those interested in learning more about the roles within the Society of Jesus and what is required to join, there is more information on our Vocations website here.
Br Guy Consolmagno SJ is the Director of the Vatican Observatory. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he earned undergraduate and masters' degrees from MIT, and a PhD in Planetary Science from the University of Arizona. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard and MIT, served in the US Peace Corps (Kenya), and taught university physics at Lafayette College before entering the Jesuits in 1989. He joined the Vatican Observatory in 1993 and, in 2015, Pope Francis appointed Br Guy the director.
