"If heavens, according to the psalmist’s nice words, tell about God’s glory, the laws of nature too, which over the centuries so many men and women of science have made us understand increasingly well, are a great incentive to contemplate the Lord’s work with gratitude". This was said by the Pope, who, during yesterday’s Angelus, mentioned the winter solstice to "greet all those who will take part, somehow or other, in the events for the World Year of Astronomy, 2009, which has been launched in the 4th centenary of Galileo Galilei’s first telescope observations". "My most venerable predecessors mentioned Benedict XVI include experts in this science, such as Sylvester II, who taught it, Gregory XIII, to whom we owe our calendar, and Saint Pius X, who knew how to build sun clocks". Then, recalling that "even the timing of Christmas Day is related to the winter solstice, when in the boreal hemisphere the days become longer again", the Pope revealed: "Maybe many people do not know that Saint Peter’s Square is a sundial too: the big obelisk actually casts its shadow along a line that runs on the paving to the fountain, underneath this window, and over these days that shadow is the longest of the year". Hence "the role of astronomy in marking the time of prayer". (continued).
