The Vatican is hosting its second astronomy conference in seven years, as the Roman Catholic church strives to avoid being seen as anti-science. Delegates are expected from 26 countries, including Britain, the US, Italy, Germany, and Russia, the BBC reports.

Father Jose Funes, head of the Vatican Observatory, said the conference would focus on disc galaxies, cold dark matter, and black holes. "Disc galaxies are a hot topic," he told the BBC.

The Vatican's history of involvement in astronomical research has its roots in the switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. Then Pope Gregory XIII set up a task force to consider the full scientific implications of the 1582 switch in timelines. But it wasn't until 1789, almost two centuries after Galileo's "heretical" proposal that the Earth orbited the Sun, that the church set up its own observatory.

Since then, the tradition of scientific exploration has been maintained, and the Vatican now runs an observatory - the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope with its 1.8 metre mirror - out in Tucson, Arizona.

Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, a member of Father Funes's 13-strong team, explains that the Church has maintained its interest because science holds no fears for the faithful.

He told the BBC: "This is our way of seeing how God created the universe and they want to make as strong a statement as possible that truth doesn't contradict truth; that if you have faith, then you're never going to be afraid of what science is going to come up with." ®

Related stories

• Pope watched over by flying robots during Lourdes visit (17 September 2008)
• Pope gives blessing to anti-christ terrorist squad (12 June 2008)
• Vatican star watcher says aliens may be out there (14 May 2008)
• Vatican updates list of mortal sins (10 March 2008)
• Pope tells astronomers to pack up their telescopes (4 January 2008)
• Star formation? All a bit of a wind up (1 November 2007)
• Catholic dating sites exchange rings (10 October 2007)
• Pope will publish evolution chat (5 September 2006)
• Pope calls a meeting on evolution (30 August 2006)
• Pope: science and religion are compatible (13 February 2006)
• Intelligent design 'not science', says Vatican astronomer (21 November 2005)