It seems to me that we who work at the Specola offer the best evidence of how it is possible to believe in God and at the same time carry out serious scientific work.  Our work counts more than words.  What counts is our credibility, the recognition we have received at an international level, our collaboration with colleagues and institutions from all over the world, the results of our research and the discoveries we have made.  The Church has left its mark on the history of astronomical research.
Fr. José Funes, SJ
Director of the Vatican Observatory

Consider, for example, that about 30 craters on the moon are named after Jesuit astronomers and that an asteroid bears the name of Fr. George V. Coyne, SJ, former director of the Observatory and current President of the Foundation.  Important contributions were made by Fr. Daniel J.K. O'Connell, SJ to the identification of the "green flash" and to the understanding of eclipsing binary stars through the O'Connell effect.  Bro. Guy Consolmagno, SJ played an important role in the reclassification of Pluto as a dwarf planet in 2007.

	Then there are the activities of Fr. Chris Corbally, SJ, vice-director of the astronomical center in Tucson, who worked with a NASA team on the recent discovery of residual asteroids from the formation of binary star systems, something only previously imagined in the realm of science fiction.
Fr. Michael Heller, a theoretical cosmologist with the Vatican Observatory, was awarded the 2008 Templeton Prize for his work on some of humankind's most profound concepts: cosmology, physics, philosophy and theology.