Is there life on Mars? Vatican ponders

ArticleData Array ( [Article] => Array ( [article_id] => 1129552 [headline] => Is there life on Mars? Vatican ponders [abstract] => Is there life on other planets? The Vatican has asked that age-old question during an astro-biology 'study week' attended by leading global scientists. [keywords] => Vatican, astrobiology, Pope [content] =>

Is there life on other planets? The Vatican has asked that age-old question over the past five days during a "study week" on astrobiology gathering leading scientists from around the world.
  
"The questions of lifeGÇÖs origins and of whether life exists elsewhere in the universe are very suitable and deserve serious consideration," said the chief papal astronomer, Father Jose Gabriel Funes.
  
Although the questions "offer many philosophical and theological implications," the gathering of about 30 leading astronomers, geologists, biologists, physicists and other scientists "focused on the scientific perspective," Funes said, according to the Vatican news service.
  
The event hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences was held to mark the International Year of Astronomy.
  
"There is a palpable expectation that the universe harbours life, and there is hope that the first discovery is only a few years away," said Chris Impey of the University of Arizona.
  
"It is appropriate that a meeting on this frontier topic is hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences," Impey said. "The motivations and methodologies might differ, but both science and religion posit life as a special outcome of a vast and mostly inhospitable universe."
  
Technological breakthroughs have led to the discovery of more than 400 planets beyond the solar system, he noted.
  
His colleague Athena Coustenis of the Paris-Meudon Observatory, told AFP she thought that if life exists "we will find it soon," and most likely within our solar system.
  
In astrobiology, "we realise every day that reality goes beyond fiction," she said.
  
The participants hoped to publish their conclusions in a book, Funes said.
  
The Jesuit priest broached the question of extraterrestrial life in an interview last year, when he said the search for aliens did not contradict belief in God.
  
"As an astronomer I continue to believe that God is the creator of the universe," Funes told the Vatican mouthpiece, the Osservatore Romano.
  
The possibility raises a difficult theological question concerning redemption from the original sin, which by Christian tradition occurred in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit of a particular tree.
  
Funes told the Osservatore Romano: "If other intelligent beings exist, it's not certain that they need redemption."
 

[start_date] => 11 November 2009 | 11:53:52 AM [comments_allowed] => 1 [source] => AFP [commentCount] => 3 [video] => [image] => Array ( [caption] => The Vatican has pondered some deep scientific questions. [useRegularImage] => 1 [media_library_id] => 54504 [site_id] => 1 [media_library_group_id] => 0 [media_usage_id] => 0 [filename] => vatican-condemns-embryo-stem-cell-resear-3679082-large.jpg [title] => vatican-condemns-embryo-stem-cell-resear-3679082-large.jpg [description] => [type] => [height] => 0 [width] => 0 [source] => [video_hi] => [video_lo] => [section] => [display_order] => 0 [create_date] => 2008-12-13 02:45:15 [active] => 1 [media_usage] => Article Large [usageWidth] => 300 [usageHeight] => 225 ) [imagePath] => http://media.sbs.com.au/news/upload_media/ [audio] => [reporter] => [relatedLinks] => Array ( [2] => Array ( [id] => 1125241 [label] => Italy unites to condemn crucifix ruling [display_order] => 0 [type] => Article ) [1] => Array ( [id] => 1110691 [label] => Galileo texts on view at Vatican [display_order] => 0 [type] => Article ) [0] => Array ( [id] => 1044147 [label] => Michelangelo 'self portrait' found in fresco [display_order] => 0 [type] => Article ) ) [relatedArticles] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [article_id] => 1044147 [headline] => Michelangelo 'self portrait' found in fresco [abstract] => The restoration of frescoes by Michelangelo in the Vatican may have revealed a special prize - a previously unknown self portrait of the artist. [content] =>

The restoration of frescoes by Michelangelo in the Vatican may have revealed a special prize – a previously unknown self portrait of the artist.

Chief Vatican restorer Maurizio De Luca said the face of a man on horseback in Michelangelo's "The Crucifixion of St Peter" could be the artsist.

However the De Luca stopped short of confirming it was actually a self portrait and nobody will ever know "with absolute certainty that the face is Michelangelo's".

It's revealed the face of the man in question was painted with the tip of the brush "almost a minute attempt to achieve precise details which was not needed given the distance between the fresco on the ceiling and the people looking at it".

The finding comes as the Vatican announces a restoration project at a cost of almost $6 million.

The frescoes were painted between 1542 and 1549, when Michelangelo was 75, and were the last the artist did.

The Cappella Paolina, or the Pauline Chapel, generally known by its Italian name Cappella Paolina, is used by the pope and is not open to the general public.

It contains Michelangelo frescoes depicting the Conversion of St. Paul and the Crucifixion of St. Peter.

They were commissioned by Pope Paul III. 

Pope Benedict XVI will inaugurate the restored chapel with a prayer service on Saturday.
 

[content_type_id] => 3 [site_name] => World News Australia [articledate] => 3 July 2009 [articletime] => 3 July 2009 [display_order] => 0 ) [1] => Array ( [article_id] => 1110691 [headline] => Galileo texts on view at Vatican [abstract] => Rudimentary telescopes and original manuscripts by Galileo are going on view at the Vatican Museums to mark the 400th anniversary of the astronomer's first celestial observations. [content] =>

Rudimentary telescopes and original manuscripts by Galileo are going on view at the Vatican Museums as part of an exhibit marking the 400th anniversary of the astronomer's first celestial observations.

"Astrum 2009: Astronomy and Instruments" traces the history of astronomy through its tools, from a 3rd century A.D. globe of the zodiac to the increasingly complicated telescopes used in more recent times to gaze at the stars.
   
At a briefing to launch the exhibit Tuesday, Monsignor Gianfranco Ravasi, the Vatican's top culture official, declined to revisit the Church's 17th century condemnation of Galileo for his discovery that the Earth revolved around the sun.

Church teaching at the time placed the Earth at the centre of the universe.

Rather, Ravasi said that, while it was necessary to have the courage to admit errors when they were made, "I continue to believe that it's necessary to look more to the future."
   
The church denounced Galileo's theory as dangerous to the faith. Tried as a heretic in 1633 and forced to recant, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, later changed to house arrest.
   
The ruling helped fuel accusations that the church was hostile to science - a reputation the Vatican has been trying to shed ever since.

In 1992, Pope John Paul II declared that the ruling against Galileo was an error resulting from "tragic mutual incomprehension."
   
The exhibit, and other Vatican initiatives to mark the 400th anniversary of Galileo's telescope and the UN-designated International Year of Astronomy, is part of the Vatican's continuing rehabilitation effort.

One of the highlights of the show is Galileo's original manuscript of "Sidereus Nuncius," the 1610 document in which he excitedly recorded his first discoveries after using his telescope.

Tommaso Maccacaro, president of Italy's national institute of astrophysics, said it was important to look at the instruments not just from a scientific view but from a cultural one as well, since astronomy has had such an impact on the way we perceive ourselves.
   
"It was astronomical observations that let us understand that Earth (and man) don't have a privileged position or role in the universe," he said in his prepared comments to the briefing. "I ask myself what tools will we use in the next 400 years, and I ask what revolutions of understanding they'll bring about, like resolving the mystery of our apparent cosmic solitude."

The exhibit opens Friday and runs through January 16.
 

[content_type_id] => 3 [site_name] => World News Australia [articledate] => 14 October 2009 [articletime] => 14 October 2009 [display_order] => 0 ) [2] => Array ( [article_id] => 1125241 [headline] => Italy unites to condemn crucifix ruling [abstract] => Italian political leaders were united with the Vatican in condemning a European court ruling that crucifixes displayed in schools are a breach of human rights. [content] =>

Italian political leaders of left and right were united with the Vatican on Wednesday in condemning a European court ruling that crucifixes displayed in schools are a breach of human rights.

The reactions came quickly after the European Court of Human Rights ruling in response to a case brought by an Italian mother opposed to the hanging of crucifixes on classroom walls.

"Europe leaves us with the pumpkins from recent celebrations," deplored Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, referring to Halloween, and it "takes away those symbols that are most important to us".

Pierluigi Bersani, head of the main left wing opposition Democratic Party, also joined the assault on Wednesday, saying "common sense has become a victim of the law". The liberal Italy of Values party called the ruling "erroneous."

The Strasbourg court found that the right of parents to educate their children according to their own beliefs, and children's right to freedom of religion, were breached by the crucifix in classrooms.

They could also be "disturbing for pupils" from other religions and ethnic minorities, the court found, declaring a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Italian bishops' conference denounced the court as "partial and ideological". Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the Church reacted "with astonishment and regret".

"The crucifix has always been a sign of God's love, unity and hospitality to all humanity. It is unpleasant that it is considered a sign of division, exclusion or a restriction of freedom," he said.

Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini said the cross was part of Italian tradition.

"No-one, and certainly not an ideological European court, will succeed in erasing our identity," Gelmini said. "The presence of the crucifix in classrooms is not a sign of belief in Catholicism, rather it is a symbol of our tradition."

The government has said an appeal will be made.

Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolinio, said the ruling aimed to "wipe out our Christian roots".

Bishops' conferences around Europe also weighed in against the decision, with the Portuguese saying the crucifix was "part of western culture" and also "an anti-violence icon".

The German bishops' conference said the decision "ignores the true significance the crucifix holds in our society".

In 90 per cent Catholic Poland, the Archbishop of Gdansk, Slawoj Leszek Glodz was unequivocal, saying, "This is another attempt to rip God from the hearts of the people".

The case was brought to the Strasbourg courts by Soile Lautsi after Italian judges finally ruled against her following years of legal wrangling, declaring on more than one occasion that the crucifix had become as much a symbol of Italian national identity as of Catholicism.

But the European court ruled in Lautsi's favour on Tuesday and awarded her 5,000 euros ($A8,000).

Lautsi launched the action eight years ago to defend her children, Dataico and Sami Albertin, aged 11 and 13, who went to a state school in Abano Terme near Venice.

Taking the case up to Italy's Constitutional Court and council of state, she used the example of a 2000 court ruling which found crucifixes in polling stations against the principle of secularism of the state.

The Corriere della Sera newspaper said the Strasbourg court had carried out "a little miracle, creating almost national unity to defend the symbol of Christianism".

Commentator Massimo Franco wrote that the outrage in Italy went beyond "political and even religious membership" but warned that the court could also boost more fundamentalist tendencies inside the Roman Catholic Church.

But La Stampa newspaper said that "if a religion is strong, if it has faith in its ability to create faith, then it does not need special protection".

Some right wing politicians have said that Italy's Christian roots should be enshrined in the country's constitution.

[content_type_id] => 3 [site_name] => World News Australia [articledate] => 5 November 2009 [articletime] => 5 November 2009 [display_order] => 0 ) ) [comments] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [articles_ugc_id] => 46122 [author] => Jeanie V, [source] => L.O., Florida, USA [content] => It's OK for the Roman Catholic Church to watch their backs for the eventuality of life forms being discovered on Mars. But then, so too will the followers of the other 2 major religions of the world, since all 3 could be affected due to any change to the present religious status quo. Religious or not, we will always be looking for answers to the burning question of whether or not we are alone in this Universe. Of course we are not alone. Get used to it. Strange life on Mars, yes. Life adapts. [user_headline] => Mars researcher [comment_date] => 19 Nov 2009 17:14 AEST [agree] => 0 [disagree] => 0 ) [1] => Array ( [articles_ugc_id] => 45777 [author] => Gregg Savage [source] => Brisbane [content] => "If other intelligent beings exist, it's not certain that they need redemption." It is far from certain that WE need redemption, Crackpot. Hopefully by the time we've discovered life on other planets, we've moved on from looking to The Vatican for their "unique" perspective on things - a very unintelligent practice, indeed! [user_headline] => Intelligence here first! [comment_date] => 18 Nov 2009 16:39 AEST [agree] => 4 [disagree] => 0 ) [2] => Array ( [articles_ugc_id] => 43797 [author] => james jones [source] => harrogate, UK [content] => the ultimate oxymoron, surely [user_headline] => Chief Papal Astronomer? [comment_date] => 12 Nov 2009 7:25 AEST [agree] => 2 [disagree] => 0 ) ) ) [winston] => test )