THE PONTIFICAL

ACADEMY
OF SCIENCES
The Pontifical
EXTRA SERIES
Academy
16
of Sciences:
A Historical Profile

DEMIA
CA M ARCELO S ÁNCHEZ S ORONDO
ICIA A

SC

Bishop-Chancellor
IENTIAR
TIF
N

VM
PO

VATICAN CITY
2003
 THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES:
A HISTORICAL PROFILE

MARCELO SÁNCHEZ SORONDO

BISHOP CHANCELLOR of the PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
and of the PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

I. THE NATURE AND GOALS OF THE ACADEMY – II. A HISTORICAL SUR-

VEY: FROM THE ACCADEMIA DEI LINCEI TO TODAY’S PONTIFICAL ACADEMY
OF SCIENCES – III. THE ROLE OF THE ACADEMY IN THE DIALOGUE BE-
TWEEN SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT AND CHRISTIAN FAITH

I. THE NATURE AND GOALS OF THE ACADEMY

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences has its origins in the

Accademia dei Lincei (‘the Academy of Lynxes’) which was estab-
lished in Rome in 1603, under the patronage of Pope Clement VIII,
by the learned Roman Prince, Federico Cesi. The leader of this
Academy was the famous scientist, Galileo Galilei. It was dissolved
after the death of its founder but then recreated by Pope Pius IX
in 1847 and given the name ‘Accademia Pontificia dei Nuovi
Lincei’ (‘the Pontifical Academy of the New Lynxes’). Pope Pius XI
then refounded the Academy in 1936 and gave it its present name,
bestowing upon it statutes which were subsequently updated by
Paul VI in 1976 and by John Paul II in 1986. Since 1936 the
Pontifical Academy of Sciences has been concerned both with in-
vestigating specific scientific subjects belonging to individual dis-
ciplines and with the promotion of interdisciplinary co-operation.
2 MARCELO SÁNCHEZ SORONDO

It has progressively increased the number of its Academicians and

the international character of its membership.
The Academy is an independent body within the Holy See
and enjoys freedom of research. Although its rebirth was the re-
sult of an initiative promoted by the Roman Pontiff and it is un-
der the direct protection of the ruling Pope, it organises its own
activities in an autonomous way in line with the goals which are
set out in its statutes:
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences has as its goal the pro-
motion of the progress of the mathematical, physical and
natural sciences, and the study of related epistemological
questions and issues.1
Its deliberations and the studies it engages in, like the member-
ship of its Academicians, are not influenced by factors of a na-
tional, political or religious character. For this reason, the
Academy is a valuable source of objective scientific information
which is made available to the Holy See and to the international
scientific community.
Today, the work of the Academy covers six main areas: a) fun-
damental science; b) the science and technology of global ques-
tions and issues; c) science in favour of the problems of the Third
World; d) the ethics and politics of science; e) bioethics; and f)
epistemology. The disciplines involved are sub-divided into nine
fields: the disciplines of physics and related disciplines; astrono-
my; chemistry; the earth and environment sciences; the life sci-
ences (botany, agronomy, zoology, genetics, molecular biology,
biochemistry, the neurosciences, surgery); mathematics; the ap-
plied sciences; and the philosophy and history of sciences.
The new members of the Academy are elected by the body of
Academicians and are chosen from men and women of every race
and religion on the basis of the high scientific value of their ac-

1 Statutes of 1976, art. 2, § 1.

 THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: A HISTORICAL PROFILE 3

tivities and their high moral profile. They are then officially ap-
pointed by the Roman Pontiff. The Academy is governed by a
President, appointed from its members by the Pope, who is helped
by a scientific Council and by the Chancellor. Initially made up of
eighty Academicians, of whom seventy were appointed for life, in
1986 John Paul II raised the number of members for life to eighty,
side by side with a limited number of Honorary Academicians
chosen because they are highly qualified figures, and others who
are Academicians because of the posts they hold, amongst whom:
the Chancellor of the Academy, the Director of the Vatican
Observatory, the Prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Library, and the
Prefect of the Vatican Secret Archive.
In conformity with the goals set out in its statutes, the
Pontifical Academy of Sciences
a) holds plenary sessions of the Academicians; b) organises
meetings directed towards the progress of science and the
solution of technical-scientific problems which are thought
to be especially important for the development of the peo-
ples of the world; c) promotes scientific inquiries and re-
search which can contribute, in the relevant places and or-
ganisations, to the investigation of moral, social and spiri-
tual questions; d) organises conferences and celebrations;
e) is responsible for the publication of the deliberations of
its own meetings, of the results of the scientific research and
the studies of Academicians and other scientists.2
To this end, traditional ‘study-weeks’ are organised and specific
‘working-groups’ are established. The headquarters of the
Academy is the ‘Casina Pio IV’, a small villa built by the famous ar-
chitect Pirro Ligorio in 1561 as the summer residence of the Pope
of the time. Surrounded by the lawns, shrubbery and trees of the
Vatican Gardens, frescoes, stuccoes, mosaics, and fountains from
the sixteenth century can be admired within its precincts.

2 Ibid., art. 3, § 1.
4 MARCELO SÁNCHEZ SORONDO

Every two years the Academy awards its ‘Pius XI Medal’, a

prize which was established in 1961 by John XXIII. This medal
is given to a young scientist who has distinguished himself or
herself at an international level because of his or her scientific
achievements. Amongst the publications of the Academy refer-
ence should be made to three series: Scripta Varia, Documenta,
and Commentarii. The most important works, such as for ex-
ample the papers produced by the study-weeks and the confer-
ences, are published in the Scripta Varia. In a smaller format, the
Documenta series publishes the short texts produced by various
activities, as well as the speeches by the Popes or the declara-
tions of the Academicians on subjects of special contemporary
relevance. The Commentarii series contains articles, observa-
tions and comments of a largely monographic character on spe-
cific scientific subjects. The expenses incurred by the activities
of the Academy are met by the Holy See.
During its various decades of activity, the Academy has had a
number of Nobel Prize winners amongst its members, many of
whom were appointed Academicians before they received this
prestigious international award. Amongst these should be listed:
Lord Ernest Rutherford (Nobel Prize for Physics, 1908),
Guglielmo Marconi (Physics, 1909), Alexis Carrel (Physiology,
1912), Max von Laue (Physics, 1914), Max Planck (Physics, 1918),
Niels Bohr (Physics, 1922), Werner Heisenberg (Physics, 1932),
Paul Dirac (Physics, 1933), Erwin Schroedinger (Physics, 1933),
Sir Alexander Fleming (Physiology, 1945), Chen Ning Yang
(Physics, 1957), Rudolf L. Mössbauer (Physics, 1961), Max F.
Perutz (Chemistry, 1962), John Eccles (Physiology, 1963), Charles
H.Townes (Physics, 1964), Manfred Eigen and George Porter
(Chemistry, 1967), Har Gobind Khorana and Marshall W.
Nirenberg (Physiology, 1968). Recent Nobel Prize winners who
have also been or are presently Academicians may also be listed:
Christian de Duve (Physiology, 1974), Werner Arber e Geroge E.
Palade (Physiology, 1974), David Baltimore (Physiology, 1975),
 THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: A HISTORICAL PROFILE 5

Aage Bohr (Physics, 1975), Abdus Salam (Physics, 1979), Paul

Berg (Chemistry, 1980), Kai Siegbahn (Physics, 1981), Sune
Bergström (Physiology, 1982), Carlo Rubbia (Physics, 1984), Rita
Levi-Montalcini (Physiology, 1986), John C. Polanyi (Chemistry,
1986), Jean-Marie Lehn (Chemistry, 1987), Joseph E. Murray
(Physiology, 1990), Gary S. Becker (Economics, 1992), Paul J.
Crutzen (Chemistry, 1995), Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (Physics,
1997) and Ahmed H. Zewail (Chemistry, 1999). Padre Agostino
Gemelli (1878-1959), the founder of the Catholic University of the
Sacred Heart and President of the Academy after its refoundation
until 1959, and Mons. Georges Lemaître (1894-1966), one of the
fathers of contemporary cosmology who held the office of
President from 1960 to 1966, were eminent Academicians of the
past. Under the Presidency of the Brazilian biophysicist Carlos
Chagas and of his successor Giovanni Battista Marini-Bettòlo, the
Academy linked its activity of scientific research to the promotion
of peace and the progress of the peoples of the world, and dedi-
cated increasing attention to the scientific and health care prob-
lems of the Third World. The Presidency of the Academy is
presently entrusted to the Italian physicist, Nicola Cabibbo.
The goals and the hopes of the Academy, within the context of
the dialogue between science and faith, were expressed by Pius XI
(1922-1939) in the following way in the Motu Proprio which brought
about its refoundation:
Amongst the many consolations with which divine
Goodness has wished to make happy the years of our
Pontificate, I am happy to place that of our having being
able to see not a few of those who dedicate themselves to
the studies of the sciences mature their attitude and their
intellectual approach towards religion. Science, when it is
real cognition, is never in contrast with the truth of the
Christian faith. Indeed, as is well known to those who
study the history of science, it must be recognised on the
one hand that the Roman Pontiffs and the Catholic
6 MARCELO SÁNCHEZ SORONDO

Church have always fostered the research of the learned

in the experimental field as well, and on the other hand
that such research has opened up the way to the defence
of the deposit of supernatural truths entrusted to the
Church ... We promise again, and it is our strongly-held
intention, that the ‘Pontifical Academicians’, through their
work and our Institution, work ever more and ever more
effectively for the progress of the sciences. Of them we do
not ask anything else, since in this praiseworthy intent and
this noble work is that service in favour of the truth that
we expect of them.3
After more than forty years, John Paul II once again empha-
sised the role and the goals of the Academy at the time of his first
speech to the Academicians which was given on 10 November 1979
to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Albert Einstein:
the existence of this Pontifical Academy of Sciences, of
which in its ancient ancestry Galileo was a member and
of which today eminent scientists are members, without
any form of ethnic or religious discrimination, is a visi-
ble sign, raised amongst the peoples of the world, of the
profound harmony that can exist between the truths of
science and the truths of faith ... The Church of Rome
together with all the Churches spread throughout the
world, attributes a great importance to the function of
the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. The title of
‘Pontifical’ given to the Academy means, as you know,
the interest and the commitment of the Church, in dif-
ferent forms from the ancient patronage, but no less pro-
found and effective in character. As the lamented and
distinguished President of the Academy, Monsignor
Lemaître, observed: Does the Church need science? But

3 AAS 28, 1936, p. 427.

 THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: A HISTORICAL PROFILE 7

for the Christian nothing that is human is foreign to

him. How could the Church have lacked interest in the
most noble of the occupations which are most strictly
human – the search for truth? ... Both believing scien-
tists and non-believing scientists are involved in deci-
phering the palimpsest of nature which has been built
in a rather complex way, where the traces of the differ-
ent stages of the long evolution of the world have been
covered over and mixed up. The believer, perhaps, has
the advantage of knowing that the puzzle has a solution,
that the underlying writing is in the final analysis the
work of an intelligent being, and that thus the problem
posed by nature has been posed to be solved and that its
difficulty is without doubt proportionate to the present
or future capacity of humanity. This, perhaps, will not
give him new resources for the investigation engaged in.
But it will contribute to maintaining him in that healthy
optimism without which a sustained effort cannot be
engaged in for long.4
It was precisely in that speech that John Paul II formally called
on historians, theologians and scientists to examine again in de-
tail the Galileo case. And he asked them to do this ‘in the faithful
recognition of errors, by whomsoever committed’, in order to
remove the distrust that this case still generates, in the
minds of many people, placing obstacles thereby in the
way of fruitful concord between science and faith.5

4 The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Papal Addresses to the Pontifical

Academy of Sciences 1917-2002 and to the Pontifical Academy of Social

Sciences 1994-2002. Benedict XV, Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI and
John Paul II (The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Scripta Varia, 100, Vatican
City, 2003), p. 243 f.
5 Ibid., p. 241 f.
8 MARCELO SÁNCHEZ SORONDO

II. A HISTORICAL SURVEY: FROM THE ACCADEMIA DEI LINCEI TO TODAY’S

PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

The historical itinerary of the Academy is summarised in

the articles written by Marini-Bettòlo (1986) and by Marchesi
(1988), and in broader fashion in the monograph by Régis
Ladous (1994). As was observed at the beginning of this paper,
the roots of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences are to be traced
back to the post-Renaissance epoch. Its origins go back to the
ancient Accademia dei Lincei, established in 1603 by Prince
Federico Cesi (1585-1630) when he had just reached the age of
eighteen. Cesi was a botanist and naturalist, the son of the Duke
of Acquasparta, and the member of a noble Roman family.
Three other young men took part in this initiative: Giovanni
Heck, a Dutch physician aged twenty-seven; Francesco Stelluti
di Fabriano; and Anastasio de Filiis de Terni. Thus it was that
the first Academy dedicated to the sciences came into being,
and it took its place at the side of the other Academies – of lit-
erature, history, philosophy and art – which had arisen in the
humanistic climate of the Renaissance. The example of Cesi
and of the group of scholars led by him was followed some years
later in other countries – the Royal Society was created in
London in 1662 and the Académie des Sciences was established
in France in 1666.
Although he looked back to the model of the Aristo-
telian-Platonic Academy, his aim was altogether special and inno-
vative. Cesi wanted with his Academicians to create a method of re-
search based upon observation, experiment, and the inductive
method. He thus called this Academy ‘dei Lincei’ because the sci-
entists which adhered to it had to have eyes as sharp as lynxes in
order to penetrate the secrets of nature, observing it at both mi-
croscopic and macroscopic levels. Seeking to observe the universe
in all its dimensions, the ‘Lincei’ made use of the microscope (per-
spicillus-occhialino) and the telescope (tubulus opticus) in their sci-
 THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: A HISTORICAL PROFILE 9

entific research, and extended the horizon of knowledge from the

extremely small to the extremely large. Federico bestowed his own
motto on the ‘Lincei’ – ‘minima cura si maxima vis’ (‘take care of
small things if you want to obtain the greatest results’).
The Cesi group was also interested in the new scientific and
naturalistic discoveries then coming from the New World, as is
demonstrated by the most significant works of the college of the
first ‘Lincei’ – the Rerum medicarum thesaurus novae Hispaniae,
later known as the Tesoro Messicano, which was printed in Rome
in 1628. This was a very extensive collection of new geographical
and naturalistic knowledge, and contained in addition accounts
of explorations carried out in the Americas.
From the outset the Academy had its ups and downs. A few
years after its foundation it was strongly obstructed by Cesi’s fa-
ther because he believed that within it activity was being en-
gaged in which was not very transparent in character – for ex-
ample, studies in alchemy. But after the death of Federico’s fa-
ther, the abundant economic resources which were now ob-
tained thanks to Federico’s inheritance, as well as the fact that
renowned scholars such as Galileo Galilei, Giovan Battista del-
la Porta, Fabio Colonna, and Cassiano dal Pozzo joined its
ranks, enabled the Academy to progress and advance.
The religious character of the Academy cannot be over-
looked. It was placed under the protection of St. John the
Evangelist who was often portrayed in the miniatures of its
publications with an eagle and a lynx, both of which were sym-
bols of sight and reason. It was therefore conceived as an as-
sembly of scholars whose goal – as one can read in its Rules,
described as the ‘Linceografo’ – was
knowledge and wisdom of things to be obtained not only
through living together with honesty and piety, but with
the further goal of communicating them peacefully to
men without causing any harm.
Nature was seen not only as a subject of study but also of con-
10 MARCELO SÁNCHEZ SORONDO

templation. Amongst the suggestions of the ‘Linceografo’ there

is also that of preceding study and work with prayer
for this reason the Lynxes, near to doing anything at all,
must first raise their minds to God, and humbly pray to
him and invoke the intercession of the saints.6
Amongst the practices of the spiritual piety of the members
there was the reciting of the liturgical office of the Blessed
Virgin Mary and the Davidic Psalter. For this reason, as Enrico
di Rovesanda observes,
the religious inspiration of the Lincei cannot be over-
looked, as is done in many quarters, nor can it be re-
duced to an ‘almost mystical glow of the school of
Pythagoras’, as has also been suggested. The high moral
figure of Cesi acts to guarantee the sincere and loyal pro-
fession of its religious faith.7
One of the mottoes of the Academy – Sapientiae cupidi – indi-
cated the striving for constant research into truth through sci-
entific speculation, based upon the mathematical and natural
sciences but always located within a sapiential horizon.
Like Galileo, whose great supporter he was, Cesi admired
Aristotle but not the Aristotelians of the University of Padua who
had refused to look at things through the telescope of the Pisan sci-
entist. He was in addition rather critical of the university culture
of his day. Federico Cesi also engaged in important activity of me-
diation between the Roman theological world and Galileo, reach-
ing the point of advising the latter to not insist in his polemics
about the interpretation of Holy Scripture so that he could dedi-
cate himself in a more effective way to scientific research. Death
struck Cesi down in 1630 when Galileo was about to finish his

6 Cf. E. di Rovasenda and G.B. Marini-Bettòlo, Federico Cesi nel quarto

centenario della nascita (Pontificiae Academiae Scientiarum Scripta Varia,
63, 1986), p. 18.
7 Ibid., p. 19.
 THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: A HISTORICAL PROFILE 11

Dialogo sui Massimi Sistemi, the manuscript of which Galileo

wanted to send to Cesi himself so that the latter could organise its
publication. After Cesi’s death the activities of the Academy di-
minished to such an extent as to bring about its closure.
The first attempts to bring the ‘Lincei’ back into existence took
place in 1745 in Rimini as a result of the efforts of a group of sci-
entists belonging to the circle made up of Giovanni Paolo Siomne
Bianchi (known as Janus Plancus), Stefano Galli and Giuseppe
Garampi. But the new Academy had a very short life. The attempt
at refoundation made by Padre Feliciano Scarpellini (1762-1840)
in Rome at the beginning of the nineteenth century met with
greater success. He gave the name of ‘Lincei’ to a private academy
that he had established in 1795. Despite a lack of funds and a whole
series of difficulties, Scarpellini managed to keep the name of
‘Lincei’ alive and to bring together in a single academic body the
various scientists working in the Papal States such as the mathe-
matician Domenico Chelini, the naturalist Carlo Bonaparte, the
anatomist Alessandro Flajani, the chemists Domenico Morichini
and Pietro Peretti, Prince Baldassarre Odescalchi, the physicists
Gioacchino Pessuti and Paolo Volpicelli, and the physician
Benedetto Viale.8
The authorities of the Papal States took new practical initia-
tives to refound the Academy during the first half of the nineteenth
century in response to the wishes of Pope Pius VII (1800-1823) and
Leo XII (1823-1829), with the allocation of the second floor of
Palazzo Senatorio in Capidoglio to the Academy as its headquar-
ters. But in 1847 it was Pius IX who officially renewed the
Academy with the name (which had already been suggested by
Gregory XVI in 1838) of ‘Accademia Pontificia dei Nuovi Lincei’
(‘the Pontifical Academy of the New Lynxes’), ensuring the draw-
ing up of new statutes which envisaged, amongst other things, the

8 Cf. G.B. Marini-Bettòlo, Historical Aspects of the Pontifical Academy of

Sciences (Pontificae Academiae Scientiarum Documenta, 21, 1986), p. 10.

12 MARCELO SÁNCHEZ SORONDO

presence of thirty resident members and forty correspondent

members. During this period of activity famous astronomers and
priests were present within its ranks, such as Francesco de Vico
and Angelo Secchi. During the revolutionary upheavals of 1848 the
Roman Republic sought to expel the Academy from the
Campidoglio. However, the institution managed to keep its head-
quarters by using various bureaucratic manoeuvres. In 1870, fol-
lowing the fall of the independent Papal States and the unification
of the Kingdom of Italy, the Academy divided into two different in-
stitutions: the ‘Reale Accademia dei Lincei’, which later became the
present Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei with its headquarters in
Palazzo Corsini alla Lungara, and the ‘Accademia Pontificia dei
Nuovi Lincei’, which was transferred from the Capidoglio to the
Casina Pio IV villa in the Vatican Gardens.
One had to wait, as has already been observed, until 28
October 1936 for a further renewal of the institution, which took
place in response to the insistent requests of the Jesuit Giuseppe
Gianfranceschi. This scientist was Professor of Physics at the
Gregorian University and had been the President of the
Accademia Pontificia dei Nuovi Lincei since 1921. A new
Pontifical Academy of Sciences was thus created by Pope XI by
the Motu Proprio In Multis Solaciis.9 The Presidency was en-
trusted to the Rector of the Catholic University Padre, Agostino
Gemelli, who was flanked by the Chancellor, Pietro Salviucci,
and by a Council composed of four Academicians. Annual (and
later two-yearly) plenary sessions were proposed for all the
Academicians. The accounts of the activities and the contribu-
tions of the members were published in the Acta Pontificiae
Academiae Scientiarum and later on in the Commentationes. The
first assembly was inaugurated on 1 June 1937 by the then
Cardinal Secretary of State, Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius

9 See Year Book (The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Vatican City, 2001),

pp. 314-316.
 THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: A HISTORICAL PROFILE 13

XII. In discussing this period of the Academy reference should

be made to the presence of such distinguished members as Ugo
Armaldi, Giuseppe Armellini, Niels Bohr, Lucien Cuenot,
Georges Lemaître, Tullio Levi-Civita, Guglielmo Marconi, Robert
Millikan, Umberto Nobile, Max Planck, Ernest Rutherford,
Erwin Shrödinger, Francesco Severi, Edmund Whittaker, and
Pieter Zeeman.
During the years 1937-1946 the publications of the Academy
had a largely Italian character, presenting, for example, the work
of the Italian Academicians Pistolesi, Crocco, and Nobile on aero-
dynamics. But there were also papers by foreign Academicians
such those as by E. Schrödinger in 1937 on quantum physics and
by M. Tibor in 1937-1939 of an astronomical character. During the
Second World War the Academy greatly reduced its activity but
nonetheless found space for the publications of Jewish Italian sci-
entists who had been marginalised by the race laws of 1938,
amongst whom should be mentioned a group of mathematicians
of Jewish descent including Tullio Levi-Civita and Vito Volterra,
and others such as Giuseppe Levi, Rita Levi-Montalcini, E. Foà
and G.S. Coen. Pius XII (1939-1958), who succeeded Pius X, did
not fail to make addresses to the Academicians, even during the
war years, such as the address of 30 November 1941 on the occa-
sion of the inauguration of the fourth academic year. This address
was dedicated to a long and profound reflection on the position
of man in relation to the Creation and God.10
In the post-war period, at a time of sensitive reconstruction
and the rebuilding of international relations, in the face of the
great difficulties encountered at the level of scientific contacts
and exchange, the Academy undertook the publication of the re-
search results of greatest interest of the various fields of science
which had been achieved during the war in its work Relationes
de Auctis Scientiis tempore belli (aa. 1939-1945). This publication

10 Papal Addresses, cit., pp. 91-99.

14 MARCELO SÁNCHEZ SORONDO

was of marked importance in fostering the renewal of scientific

contacts between the nations which had previously been at war.
In 1946 Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) was appointed an
Academician in recognition of his discovery of penicillin – a dis-
covery which opened the way to the pharmacological produc-
tion of antibiotics.
During the 1950s, in parallel with the problems of reconstruc-
tion and the development of under-developed regions, the activity of
the Pontifical Academy of Sciences centred around the questions
and issues of applied science. In 1955 the study-week on trace ele-
ments was held, when for the first time the problem of agrarian pro-
duction and food sources was addressed. After the election to the
papacy of John XXIII (1958), Padre Gemelli died in 1959. The
Presidency of the Academy was then held by G. Lemaître.
The 1960s witnessed an exponential growth and develop-
ment of science connected with electronics and the conquest of
space. This gave new impetus to industry and technological ad-
vance but also to nuclear armaments. In astrophysics the dis-
covery of new sensors and the development of radio-astronomy
opened up the universe to new interpretations. Biology became
directed towards the molecular study of genetics. In 1961 the
Pontifical Academy of Sciences organised a study-week on the
macromolecules of interest to biology, and in particular on the
nucleoproteins, a subject which was then of major importance
for international research. On that occasion, when meeting the
Academicians, John XXIII reaffirmed the educational and cul-
tural mission of the Church and the function of scientific
progress in relation to the positive appreciation of the human
person. The Pope recalled in addition that science is directed
above all else towards the development and growth of the per-
sonality of man and the glorification of God the Creator:
indeed, far from fearing the most audacious discoveries of
men, the Church instead believes that every advance in the
possession of the truth involves a development of the hu-
 THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: A HISTORICAL PROFILE 15

man person and constitutes a road towards the first truth,

and the glorification of the creative work of God.11
In 1962, at the time of the plenary session of that year, a
study-week dedicated to astronomy which addressed the subject
of cosmic radiation in space was held, guided in first person by
the President of the Academy, Monsignor Lemaître.
In 1964, at the time of the pontificate of Paul VI (1963-1978),
there appeared amongst the publications of the Pontifical
Academy of Sciences the Miscellanea Galileiana of Monsignor Pio
Paschini, who was Professor of History at the Lateran University.
The Galileo case was slowly reopened, a development favoured
by the reference made to it by Vatican Council II in n. 36 of
Gaudium et Spes. This led to the address by John Paul II of 1979
to which reference has already been made. After the death of
Georges Lemaître, in 1966 Padre Daniel O’Connell was made
President of the Academy. A Jesuit and Irish astronomer, he had
previously been Director of the Vatican Observatory and had
been an Academician for life since 1964. He was also the author
together with other astronomers of an important general atlas of
the stars. The year 1967 was marked by the publication of the en-
cyclical Popularum Progressio, in which Paul VI brought to
worldwide attention all the major problems inherent in the de-
velopment of the Third World. This document also contained an
appeal to engage in international scientific co-operation so that
this could in all forms favour developing countries. It introduced
the idea that scientific progress and advance must be guided by
a ‘new humanism’:
every advance of ours, each one of our syntheses reveals
something about the design which presides over the uni-
versal order of beings, the effort of man and humanity to
progress. We are searching for a new humanism, which will

11 Papal Addresses, cit., p. 166.

16 MARCELO SÁNCHEZ SORONDO

allow modern man to refind himself, taking on the higher

values of love, friendship, prayer and contemplation.12
In harmony with the themes of the encyclical, the Academy thought
it was necessary to open itself to collaboration with the scientists
of the Third World and by 1968 it was already holding a study-week
on the subject of ‘organic matter and soil fertility’, a subject which
dealt with the applications of science to agricultural production
and the solution of the problems of hunger in the world.
In 1972 for the first time a secular President was elected –
the Brazilian Carlos Chagas, who had already been a member of
the United Nations and the General Secretary of the first con-
ference of the United Nations on Science and Technologies for
Development. The new President imparted a new direction to
the activities of the Academy which were now more centred
around solving the great problems of post-industrial society.13
The scientific activity of the Academy was thus directed not only
towards the subjects of science which were more specific to
Western culture but also began to be concerned, with the co-op-
eration of Giovanni Battista Marini-Bettòlo (who succeeded
Chagas in 1988), with the scientific and health care problems
connected with the growth and development of the Third World
(‘development ethics’).
The 1980s witnessed the development of new directions in sci-
entific research which moved in the direction of the life sciences,
the earth sciences, and ecology. Mankind had to face up to new
problems, such as pollution, changes in the biosphere, energy re-
serves, and genetic manipulation. In 1982 the Academy commit-
ted itself at an international level to the promotion of peace with
the drawing up of a document on nuclear armaments14 and de-

12Gaudium et Spes, n. 20.

13Cf. E. di Rovasenda, ‘In ricordo dell’antico Presidente della Pontifica
Accademia delle Scienze, C. Chagas’, OR, 21-22 Feb. (2000).
14 Cf. ‘Declaration on Nuclear Disarmament’, EV, 7, pp. 1811-1825.
 THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: A HISTORICAL PROFILE 17

voted the next plenary session (of 1983) to the subject of ‘science
for peace’. In connection with that event, John Paul II appealed
to members of governments to work in an effective fashion in or-
der to remove the danger of a new war and invited States to en-
gage in nuclear disarmament.15 This document and appeal
achieved a strong resonance in the United States of America and
the Soviet Union. During the 1990s meetings and study-weeks
were held which were dedicated to analysing the question of the
prolonging of life; the question of determining the moment of
death; the question of transplants and xenografts; and the ques-
tion of sustainable growth and development. The issues of artifi-
cial fertilisation, cloning, and genetic manipulation were also
considered. These were subjects which increasingly involved is-
sues of an ethical character (bioethics) and which drew scientists,
philosophers and theologians into dialogue. Although the usual
practice of involving various disciplines was maintained, the re-
search and the debates of the Academicians were directed in a
special way towards reflection on the anthropological and hu-
manistic dimensions of science. In November 1999 a
working-group was held on the subject of ‘science for man and
man for science’, and the Jubilee session of November 2000 was
dedicated to the subject ‘science and the future of mankind’.

III. THE ROLE OF THE ACADEMY IN THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN SCIENTIFIC

THOUGHT AND CHRISTIAN FAITH

In the relations which exist between Academies and the States

in which they carry out their activities, the case of the Pontifical
Academy of Sciences can be seen as a singular case, as indeed in
basic terms the role of the small State which hosts it is also singu-
lar. During these long years this relationship has become very fer-

15 Papal Addresses, cit., p. 256 ff.

18 MARCELO SÁNCHEZ SORONDO

tile. The Church has paid careful attention to the Academy. She has
respected its work and fostered the autonomy of its scientific and
organisational dynamics. Through the Academy, the Magisterium
of the Church has sought to make the scientific world understand
her teaching and her orientations in relation to subjects which con-
cern the good of man and society, the complete human develop-
ment of all the peoples of the world, and the scientific and cultur-
al co-operation which should animate the relations between States.
On the occasion of numerous addresses and messages directed to-
wards the Academy by five pontiffs, the Church has been able to re-
propose the meaning of the relationship between faith and reason,
between science and wisdom, and between love for truth and the
search for God. But through the Academy the Church has also been
able to understand from nearer to hand, with speed and in depth,
the contents and the importance of numerous questions and issues
which have been the object of the reflection of the scientific world,
whose consequences for society, the environment and the lives of
individuals could not but interest her directly,
given that there is nothing which is genuinely human which
does not find echo in her heart.16
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences has thus become one of the
favoured forums for the dialogue between the Gospel and scientif-
ic culture, gathering together all the stimulating provocations but
also the inspiring possibilities that such dialogue brings with it, al-
most thereby symbolising a shared growth – of both the scientific
community and the Magisterium of the Church – of their respec-
tive responsibilities towards truth and good.
The above survey, although general in character, dealing with
the activity carried out over the sixty years since the foundation
of the Pontifical Academy of Science, the subjects of the numer-
ous meetings and study-weeks, and the publications which the

16 Cf. Gaudium et Spes, n. 1.

 THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: A HISTORICAL PROFILE 19

Academy has produced, brings out all the contemporary relevance

and the importance of the subjects which have been addressed.
Scientists from all over the world, often co-operating closely with
a group of philosophers and theologians, have examined ques-
tions and issues which have ranged from genetics to cosmology,
from agriculture to the distribution of resources, from the surgery
of transplants to the history of science, and from ecology to
telecommunications. The speeches addressed by the Pontiffs to
the Academicians, from Pius XI to John Paul II, have offered im-
portant elements of reflection not only in relation to the ethical
and moral responsibility of their activities but also on the very
meaning of scientific research, and on its striving for truth and an
increasingly profound knowledge of reality. The subject of the re-
lationship between science and faith, both at an epistemological
and an anthropological level, has been the usual framework of al-
most all these papal addresses. The forms of language employed
have been different as these decades have passed, and different
emphases have been placed on the various questions and issues,
but the attention paid to scientific work has been unchanging, as
has been the case in relation to the philosophical and cultural di-
mensions which that work involves.
Side by side with such dialogue, which we could call ‘ordi-
nary’, international public opinion has been witness to certain ‘out
of the ordinary’ events. From the mass media it has learnt about
speeches of special importance for the relationship between sci-
ence and faith, speeches given at the Academy in particular dur-
ing the pontificate of John Paul II. Of these reference should be
made to the address with which, as has already been observed,17
John Paul II spoke to the plenary session of the Pontifical
Academy of Sciences in November 1979 to express his wish for,
and then formally request, the establishment of a committee of

17 See above section I.

20 MARCELO SÁNCHEZ SORONDO

historians, scientists, and theologians which would re-examine

the Galileo case and present public opinion with a serene analy-
sis of the facts as they occurred. The aim of this was not in a his-
torical sense to recognise the inadvisability of the condemnation
of the heliocentrism carried out four centuries beforehand by the
Sant’Uffizio (something which had already been effected in 1757
with the removal of the works in question from the list of pro-
hibited books), but rather to ensure that the historical-philosoph-
ical context of the episode, as well as its implications at a cultur-
al level, were more illuminated, thereby clarifying in a public way
which would be comprehensible to everybody what had already
been made clear in a narrower circle of intellectuals and experts.
During a new assembly of the Academy which was held on 31
October 1992, Cardinal Paul Poupard, in the presence of the Holy
Father, presented the results of the committee and commented on
the work which it had carried out.
Four years later, on 22 October 1996, this time in the form of a
message on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of its refounda-
tion, John Paul II once again chose the Pontifical Academy of
Sciences as a qualified interlocutor to expound certain important
reflections on the theory of evolution. Returning to and developing
certain observations made by his predecessor Pius XII in the en-
cyclical Humani Generis,18 he now added that ‘new knowledge leads
the theory of evolution to be no longer considered as a mere hy-
pothesis’, thereby recognising ‘that this theory has progressively im-
posed itself on the attention of researchers following a series of dis-
coveries made in the various disciplines of knowledge’, imposing it-
self also therefore on the attention of theologians and bible experts.
It would not however be exact to confine only to recent years
the climate of mutual listening and serene encounter on subjects
of great relevance. History has also been a witness to other

18 Cf. DH 3896-3899.
 THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: A HISTORICAL PROFILE 21

episodes of intense dialogue with the Roman Pontiffs of which the

Academy or some of its members were the protagonists. This is the
case, for example, of Max Planck, who wanted to make himself the
interpreter in a direct way with Pius XII in 1943 of the risks of war
connected with the use of armaments based upon nuclear fission,19
or the close relationship between Pius XII and Georges Lemaître,
who enabled the Pontiff to understand from closer to hand at the
beginning of the 1950s the meaning of the new cosmological mod-
els which were by then beginning to become established in the sci-
entific world, and the philosophical, or even theological, questions
which at first sight appeared to be involved. In more recent years,
Carlos Chagas was especially concerned in 1981 to take on board
the worries of John Paul II, who was still convalescing after the at-
tack on his life, about the consequences for the planet of a possi-
ble nuclear war. He decided to himself present the studies carried
out on the subject to the principal Heads of State in his capacity
as President of the Academy.20
In the letter sent to Padre George Coyne, the Director of the
Vatican Observatory and a member of the Council of the Academy,
a document which is certainly one of the most profound there is
on the subject of the dialogue between science and faith, John Paul
II observed that science has acted to purify faith and that faith has
acted to generate scientific research, a truth demonstrated by the
fact that Galilean modern science was born in a Christian climate
with the increasing assimilation of the message of freedom placed
in the heart of man. Thus, in the same letter, referring to the wider
context of universities, the Pope declared that:
The Church and academic institutions, because they rep-
resent two institutions which are very different but very
important, are mutually involved in the domain of human

19 R. Ladous, Des Nobel au Vatican. La fondation de l’academie pontifica-

le des sciences (Cerf, Paris, 1994), p. 144.

20 Cf. E. di Rovesanda, loc. cit.
22 MARCELO SÁNCHEZ SORONDO

civilisation and world culture. We carry forward, before

God, enormous responsibilities towards the human con-
dition because historically we have had and we continue
to have a determining influence in the development of
ideas and values and the course of human actions.21
For this to come about, the Pope stressed the importance of there
being experts and places especially dedicated to such a dialogue:
‘the Church for a long time has recognised the importance of this
by founding the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, in which scien-
tists of world renown regularly meet each other to discuss their
research and to communicate to the wider community the direc-
tions research is taking. But much more is required’ (ibidem).
And in this ‘more’ John Paul II saw the need, in their irre-
placeable dialogue, for scientific institutions and the Catholic
Church not to think in a reductive way about the settling of an-
cient conflicts, and also saw the more important need for mutual
help in the investigation of truth and a shared growth in their re-
sponsibility for the good of the peoples of the world and their fu-
ture. And it in this logic, with this new readiness to engage in serv-
ice, that the present President of the Academy, Professor Cabibbo,
in his address to John Paul II on the occasion of the Jubilee ple-
nary session on the subject of ‘science and the future of mankind’22
was able to speak about the ‘renewed commitment’ of the
Pontifical Academy of Sciences together with the Holy See to the
good of the whole Church, of the scientific community, and of
those men and women who search and believe.

21 Papal Addresses, cit., pp. 292-300.

22 OR 13-14 Nov. (2000), p. 6.
 THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: A HISTORICAL PROFILE 23

BIBLIOGRAPHY

For studies and works of a historical character see:

di Rovasenda, E. and G.B. Marini-Bettòlo, Federico Cesi nel quar-

to centenario della nascita (Pontificiae Academiae Scientiarum
Scripta Varia, 63, 1986).
Marini-Bettòlo, G.B., Historical Aspects of the Pontifical Academy
of Sciences (Pontificae Academiae Scientiarum Documenta,
21, 1986).
Marini-Bettòlo, G.B., The Activity of the Pontifical Academy of
Sciences 1936-1986, (Pontificiae Academiae Scientiarum
Scripta Varia, 67, 1987).
Marchesi, G. ‘La Pontificia Accademia delle Scienze, luogo d’in-
contro tra ragione e fede’, Civiltà Cattolica 139 (1988), III, pp.
235-246.
Ladous, R., Des Nobel au Vatican. La fondation de l’academie pon-
tificale des sciences (Cerf, Paris, 1994).
Poupard, P., (ed.), La nuova immagine del mondo. Il dialogo fra
scienza e fede dopo Galileo (Piemme, Casale Monferrato, 1996).
di Rovasenda, E., ‘In ricordo dell’antico Presidente della Pontifica
Accademia delle Scienze, C. Chagas’, OR, 21-22 Feb. (2000).
Cabibbo, N., Address to the Holy Father, OR, 13-14 Nov. (2000).
Sánchez Sorondo, M., ‘Un luogo di dialogo’, Kos, 217 (Europa
Scienze Umane Editrice, 2003), pp. 38-43.

Some publications of the Academy on subjects referred to in this

paper:

Paschini, P., (ed.), Miscellanea galileana, 3 vols. (Pontificiae

Academiae Scientiarum Scripta Varia, 27 a/b, 1964).
Science and Technology for Developing Countries (Pontificiae
Academiae Scientiarum Scripta Varia, 44, 1979).
24 MARCELO SÁNCHEZ SORONDO

Pagano, S.M. and A.G. Luciani, I documenti del processo di

Galileo Galilei (Pontificiae Academiae Scientiarum Scripta
Varia, 53, 1984).
The Artificial Prolongation of Life and the Determination of the
Exact Moment of Death (Pontificiae Academiae Scientiarum
Scripta Varia, 60, 1985).
The Responsibility of Science (Pontificiae Academiae Scientiarum
Scripta Varia, 80, 1988).
Science for Development in a Solidarity Framework (Pontificiae
Academiae Scientiarum Documenta, 25, 1989).
The Determination of Brain Death and its Relationship to Human
Death (Pontificiae Academiae Scientiarum Scripta Varia,
83, 1989).
Science in the Context of Human Culture, I-II (Pontificiae
Academiae Scientiarum Scripta Varia, 85-86, 1990-1991).
Resources and Population (Pontificiae Academiae Scientiarum
Scripta Varia, 87, 1991).
The Legal and Ethical Aspects Related to the Project of the Human
Genome (Pontificiae Academiae Scientiarum Scripta Varia,
91, 1993).
Year Book (The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Vatican City, 2001).
Papal Addresses to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences 1917-2002
and to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences 1994-2002.
Benedict XV, Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI and John
Paul II (The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Scripta Varia,
100, Vatican City, 2003).

For all the publications of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences see

Publications of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (1936-1999) (Vatican City, 1999).
‘What a wonderful thing is
the Christian religion! It
seems to aim only at hap-
piness in a future life, and
yet it secures our happi-
ness in this life also’.

(Montesquieu, Esprit des

lois, Book III, Ch. 6)