An Indian Jesuit originally from Goa, he is the superior of the Vatican’s Specola community. His story to : «I study the origin of galaxies, billions of years ago: we try to understand more deeply the complexity and beauty of the universe. Life outside the solar system? “We will have answers soon.”
Milan () – “We live in a privileged moment to peer into the history of the universe: today science is capable of taking us even to peripheries billions of years away.” It is a very special mission that of Father Richard D’Souza. At forty-six years old, he grew up in a Christian family in Goa (India) and his favorite horizon is the most distant stars in our solar system. Superior of the Jesuit community of the Vatican Observatory, he is an astrophysicist, with a doctorate from the Max Planck Institute in Munich and with complementary studies at the University of Michigan.
“My field of research is the origins of galaxies: I am basically an archaeologist of stars,” he explains, “I study how they were born and how they change over time, through clues that reveal phenomena that happened billions of years ago. How stars are formed and how different galaxies attract each other until they merge. We know, for example, that the Milky Way, within which we all live, attracts two other galaxies: in two or three billion years they will be one. Through models We mathematicians are trying to understand what this will mean.
It all started with the passion for science of an Indian boy who had many friends among the Jesuits. “I was fascinated by the stories about the studies of Matteo Ricci and other companions,” he says, “so, when I finished the novitiate, my province sent me to study physics in Bombay.” One step after another, his path led him to the Specola Vaticana, the observatory that, together with the Castel Gandolfo headquarters, now also has a state-of-the-art telescope on Mount Graham, in Arizona, United States. A total of 15 Jesuits of different nationalities work between the two headquarters, including a Congolese brother.
“The Church’s interest in heaven is something very old,” comments Father D’Souza, “let us think about the importance of the Vatican observatory for the development of calendars and the definition of the date of Easter. But when the loss of political control over Rome raised the question of refounding the Specola, Leo XIII entrusted this institution with the specific task of bringing science and faith into dialogue. And this is what we continue to do today.
«If I look at our days – continues the Indian Jesuit -, I would say that 70% of our work is aimed at research: we carry out our studies, we participate in conferences, we collaborate with other observatories. Everywhere we find a great openness towards us. The most difficult, perhaps, is the other 30%: the time we dedicate to activities to remind the Church that science is not a hostile world. “There is still a lot of suspicion and resistance about it.”
What does your research on galaxies say to faith? “We do not look to the sky to investigate God,” Father Richard responds, “but to the reality of the universe. The more we reason about the complexity of creation, the more we realize its beauty. Although in some ways we work to always offer new reasons to praise God through a better understanding of his work.
“We do not study scientific fields that have immediate implications,” continues the Jesuit astronomer, “such as ecology or climatology. Instead, we try to answer the deepest questions that humanity carries within itself: where do we come from? What is our place in the universe? Can we even try to imagine the end of our sun, going far ahead in time. And this is fascinating in all latitudes. When I was in Kenya, I tried to get the children of a shanty town to look. the rings of Saturn: the wonder and questions generated by these observations are the same everywhere.”
Among the great questions that have always arisen when looking at the sky there is one that Father D’Souza believes will be fundamental in the not too distant future: «Are we alone in the universe? Today we have new tools to try to provide an answer, because we are making great progress in researching what exists outside the solar system. We are now studying the atmosphere of these planets, and I am convinced that within twenty years we will have evidence of the presence of life forms in some of the billions of stars that we know of. We cannot guarantee it yet, but all the conditions are in place for this to happen. These are, of course, elementary life forms, molecules; but if they exist, the possibility that they will develop into intelligent life forms cannot be ruled out. What would such a discovery mean? And what relationship would it have with the Revelation? I have the impression that theology will soon be confronted with questions similar to those raised by the discovery of “new worlds” beyond the ocean…”
In the meantime, however, astronomy also has to face much more earthly issues: the exponential exploitation of resources risks creating problems in this area as well. “The proliferation of satellites used for Internet connections risks obscuring the sky again,” says Father D’Souza. »Not only those of Elon Musk: there are also other competing companies that are entering this market, each with hundreds of satellites that must rotate at a certain speed in the lower atmosphere. They will become many of those destined for telecommunications, leaving traces that strongly contaminate the radio signals captured by telescopes. “It is a great threat to our work.”
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