This is an unprecedented initiative. A miniaturized digital book containing a prayer of Pope Francis will be sent... in space, Saturday. The message of hope that will be put into orbit at an altitude of 525 km is taken from a speech delivered by the Supreme Pontiff on March 27, 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"This is not the time of your judgment, but the time of our judgment: the time to choose what matters and what passes, to separate what is necessary from what is not. It is time to redirect the path of life towards you, Lord, and towards others", he pronounced, at the time, alone in a deserted St. Peter's Square. In the pouring rain, the pope that day urged the "frightened and lost" world to reconsider its priorities.
To "reach as many women and men as possible"
Concretely, a digital book of barely 2 millimeters, containing the famous speech will be embarked on a rectangular satellite of about thirty centimeters designed by students of the Polytechnic of Turin (Italy). The piece will be put into orbit by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the Holy See announced at a press conference in Rome.
This project, called "Spei Setelles" ("satellite of hope" in Latin) is jointly led by the Vatican, the Italian space agency and various Italian institutes. The aim of this project is then to send this speech "beyond the earth's borders to reach from space as many women and men as possible on our planet in difficulty," explained the president of the Italian Space Agency, Giorgio Saccoccia.
" READ ALSO After his operation, will Pope Francis be handed over for WYD in Portugal this summer?
By participating in this project, Pope Francis is part of a line of popes showing their interest in space and astronomy, as La Croix recalls. In 2001, Pope John Paul II welcomed several future doctors of astronomy to the Vatican, saying he wanted their research "to lead to understanding the mysteries of the Universe and its Creation."
Ten years later, Pope Benedict XVI himself had a live exchange with the astronauts of the International Space Station (ISS) during a twenty-minute connection. The initiative was replicated by the Argentine pope with six astronauts in 2017.