Father Coyne was the director of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona for twenty eight years (1978 – 2006). He was also director of the Vatican Observatory. Fr. Coyne, an American Jesuit is a member of the Pontifical Academy of Science, and his special interest is the study of young and newborn stars. He is the author of more than 150 scientific publications.

When did you begin to observe the stars and become interested in the Universe?

It may seem strange, but I felt in with astronomy while studying classical languages. My professor of Classical Greek got distracted many times and spoke of astronomy while teaching. He sparkled in me the passion for astronomical research.

Then you discovered your vocation when you were young.

Yes, I discovered this vocation within my Jesuit vocation as a student.

A Jesuit and a Scientist! The two vocations go together very well.

Yes, they go hand in hand in my life, and I think in the life of my confreres. At the Vatican Observatory, we are a family of Jesuit scientists, and everyone is in the field of research. In the logo of the Vatican observatory, we read: “Deum creatorum, venite adoremus”. Our life is exactly this: we search for God in the universe so that we may pray to him better.

What is the difference, for example, between Eucharistic adoration and the examination of the stars?

These are two very different things. Scientific research is one thing, and to pray is another thing. They are not in contrast with each other, they are simple different. When I do science, I gather data, analyze them according to mathematics, and I create a theoretical model that tries to explain the data. When I pray, I put in movement my most emotional part, the most spiritual part. I most though confess that once in a while in my prayer, scientific research is made present, but this enriches my prayer, it gives prayer certain substance.

Among these two activities, to pry into consciences and to read the firmament, which one is easier?

To read the firmament is not easy but it is easier that to pry into consciences because the human person is one thousand times richer, more open, and freer that any other reality present in the universe. The objects that we study in the firmament are defined. The human person is undetermined and complicated. It is easier to deal with the universe than with a person.

You have been studying the universe for many decades

Yes, every day, every time that I look at it, because in the face of the universe, the astronomer is ignorant: the more he discovers, the less he knows. The universe is great and very complicated in a way that the questions are always more than the answers that we are able to give. But it is exactly this that creates in the astronomer the passion for the research.

Can you tell me then in a couple of sentences what we know about the universe?

We know for certain that the universe began from a status of very high density and temperature, the so called cosmology of the “big bang” or the primordial explosion. Although to speak of an outburst is a little risky because it is not really an explosion that created the universe, we know that for certain that universe is in expansion.

Then it is more than we don’t know that what we know about the universe!

Yes, today we know less than we knew before.

But we have made many advances in advances in science. We need to see if they bring us closer to God or turn us away from Him!

Whoever is close to God gets closer to him through the scientific results, but whoever is not close to God cannot get closer to him through the same results. The essential thing is faith. I did not reach God trough scientific reasoning and I exclude that anyone could reach God through scientific research. Whoever affirms this, does not reach God but something else. But if a person is already close to God scientific research helps the person to get still closer.

As a believer, putting your eyes at the telescope and looking at the universe, have you ever seen traces of God?

Absolutely not. Whoever says that in the discovery of the cosmic foundation, man has found the fingerprints of God is kidding. In the universe, there is no indication of God. Either for a person who believes, nor for the person who does not believe. It is true in certain sense, that the universe is in the image of God in the same way that the human person, but to affirm this we must have faith. Only faith can make us see the signs of God in the universe, signs that are not obvious to a researcher.

But the fascination of the things not created by the human beings, it is not a natural way to comprehend God?

It could be for many people but for many scientist, this is not so. Then we must conclude that we cannot reach God through the universe, or through scientific research but only with faith, which is a free gift from God.

Father Coyne, are we alone in the universe or are there other forms of life outside our planet?

We do not have any scientific answer about this. Statistically speaking we know that the sun is a very normal star among billions present in our galaxy. There are hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe. If the sun is a very normal star we could ask ourselves how many suns will have planets close to them?  From a statistical point of view, it seems obvious that there are many planets around the stars like the sun, but if in them there is life or not, we cannot yet conclude this. We face a big scientific problem, which has at its base the origin of life in our planet. If we still do not know how life was born on earth, how can we speak of life elsewhere?

There are though people who sustain that they can capture signals of extraterrestrial civilizations. Even scientific magazines speak of UFO.

Up to this day, we have never recorded a single signal that has to do with intelligence. No intelligent signal has ever come to us from the universe. Whoever affirms the contrary is mistaken.

Then UFO do not exist

No, they do not exist. They do not exist in the way that people conceive them, which are extraterrestrial realities. The majority of the non-identified objects have been identified. There is a small number not yet identified, but that has nothing to do with the existence of extraterrestrial.

Will you then exclude the probability of the existence of extraterrestrial?

We cannot exclude the existence of life elsewhere, even though up to today we have no proof of life.

What do you instead think about the influence of the stars and planets on the life of human beings?

The stars have no influence on human life. Astrology is fiction, it is not a game. If one wants to entertain himself is free to do it, but whoever exchanges the game with serious things is greatly mistaken.

Are there any points in common between Astronomy and Astrology?

No, absolutely. Astrology is not science. It is like a game for pure entertainment.

The scientific research in which you are involved, can they ever revealed the keys t o the universe?

I think so. They will give us the key to understand but not to open. It will be difficult to open that door.

But you are trying to do so!

Yes, I dedicate all my life to this purpose.

Are we close?

No, we are very far. The journey is very long but fascinating. Every day, we take one step forward.

In the 1990s, we made great scientific advances.

In effect, it has been a fruitful century for science. Among the many discoveries we can site the relativity of Einstein and the expansion of the universe. But the journey is still very long.

What significant steps are possible in the immediate future?

I am hopeful that by building more potent telescopes, capable of making us understand the beginning of the universe, the future will reserve for us many surprises.

The end is still very far away!

The end of the universe is certainly very far away. The sun has still five billion years of life. When I die, the sun will certainly be there. The apocalypse is still nothing in comparison to the life of the universe.

Is this the reason that one of your books you speak of the fable of the universe?

Yes, but a fable that is modified continually: a “vital” fable: a scientific fable different that a poem. Through scientific data, we are creating the fable of the universe.

Are you speaking of a fable as something invented or as something fascinating?

Both things. In science there is a certain fantasy necessary to be able to progress in the research, but there is also a fascination that allows to progress and generates in us passion.

According to this fable, is the universe finite or infinite? It is something that transcends time and space or is it part of it?

We do not know. The universe can be finite or infinite. But even if it will be infinite, this cannot be seen as a challenge to God the creator, because God is infinite in a different way. God is intrinsically infinite beyond time and space. As scientist we only know that the “big bang” that is primordial burst, does not tell us necessary that the universe is finite. There could be an infinite serious of “big bangs”. We cannot exclude that the universe re-explodes and is condensed an infinity of times. We live in the age of the expansion of the universe.

But God respects all the laws of the universe!

Without a doubt. God has created the universe and as a consequence, He cannot disrespect it. But in reality we do not know what the laws of physics and chemistry signified exactly. For example, is the law of gravity bound to statistics, or is it an intrinsic law absolutely necessary? Furthermore, has the universe an intrinsic creativity or works like a clock? Is it enough to wind it? No the universe has its own freedom, which we cannot confuse with that of the human type. It is God who has made the universe this way, a world that participates in its creativity.

Father Coyne, as reflect on the universe do you feel as a missionary?

Yes, we Jesuits scientists at the Vatican observatory are missionaries in the sense that in the world of science we have special presence.

Your presence has helped scientist who are atheists to come on board with believers.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. The conversion of people depends on God. We are only witnesses in the midst of the world of science.

When we live this world, will we lose the universe or will we find it more completely?

In my opinion, we will find it better. We are not angels; we are not human beings so spiritual that we have nothing to do with the material aspects. In a certain way, the universe will be a participant in our heaven, even though now we cannot imagine how.

I imagine your paradise will be a telescope, a thousand times more powerful that the one you have now!

At least, a thousand times more powerful, but then we will know everything and we will not have the need of a telescope.

Fr. Vito Magno, RCJ

Writes from Rome where he is editor of Rogate Ergo, a magazine on vocation ministry. He also collaborates with Vatican Radio, RAI, and different newspapers and magazines. This interview also appeared in Mondo Voc.