The latest bulletin of the IAU (International Astronomical Union) Working Group for Small Body Nomenclature contains some exciting news for scientists at the Vatican Observatory. Several asteroids co-discovered by Vatican astronomer Fr. Richard P. Boyle, SJ, together with his longtime collaborator K. Černis (of Vilnius, Lithuania), using the Vatican Observatory’s VATT telescope on Mount Graham, have received official names.
Twenty-Five Years of Collaboration
Nearly twenty-five years after the first technical internship inside the Vatican carried out with students from Villanova University in Pennsylvania, a delegation from the Directorate of Telecommunications and Information Systems of the Governorate of Vatican City State visited the campus of the American university, which had been previously attended by Pope Leo XIV.
The operations to dismantle the Nativity Scene and remove the Christmas tree set up in St. Peter’s Square for Christmas have been completed. As announced, starting on Monday, January 12, after the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord, the dismantling and relocation activities began. These were carried out by staff from the Directorate of Infrastructure and Services of the Governorate, together with the organizers of the Nativity.
On Monday, November 17th, the Yale Divinity School, on behalf of Dean Greg Sterling, hosted Sister Raffaella Petrini, President of the Governorate, in a Q+A session with the YDS Roman Catholic Fellowship and YDS community.
On December 5th, Sr. Raffaella Petrini, FSE visited the Ohio Chapter of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums in Cleveland, Ohio. At the gala dinner with over 250 persons, the President thanked the Ohio Patrons for their twenty years of selfless generosity in their dedication to restoration of various artistic works of the Vatican Museums.
A step forward for the agrivoltaic plant in Santa Maria di Galeria
On Wednesday, 7 January, the Senate of the Italian Republic approved the bill concerning the ratification and implementation of the Agreement between Italy and the Holy See for an agrivoltaic plant in Santa Maria di Galeria, signed in Rome on 31 July 2025.
The Bulletin of the Holy See Press Office on Saturday, 3 January, announced that Pope Leo XIV has appointed Professor and Attorney Ulisse Corea, as Adjunct Judge of the Tribunal of the Vatican City State. Prof. Corea is an of Associate Professor of Civil Procedural Law at the University of Tor Vergata Rome.
Dedicated to Saint Carlo Acutis (1991–2006) and his talent for computer technology, the new official app of the Governorate of the Vatican City State has been launched.
The application features the institutional website www.vaticanstate.va and has been designed to provide access to institutional information even simpler, quicker and easier to use on mobile devices.
Pope Leo XIV visited the Nativity Scene from the Diocese of Nocera Inferiore–Sarno, set up in St. Peter’s Square for the 2025 Christmas season. On Wednesday afternoon, 31 December 2025, he visited the crèche after presiding in the Vatican Basilica over First Vespers for the Solemnity of Mary, Most Holy Mother of God, followed by the singing of the traditional Te Deum hymn of thanksgiving at the end of the year.
An outpouring of warmth, faith and popular tradition surrounds the great Christmas tree placed at the center of the Courtyard of the Apostolic Palace in Castel Gandolfo. Hand-modeled terracotta figures recall the birth of Jesus. It is a Mexican nativity scene, with an essential number of characters: the Child, Mary, Joseph, the three Magi, a shepherd, and an angel. They have simple yet highly expressive forms: faces absorbed in contemplation of the mystery, all leaning toward the manger surrounded by the ox and the donkey.
