POPE Francis has named American Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno as director of the Vatican Observatory. He replaces Argentine Jesuit Fr José Funes, 52, who had served in the role since 2006.
Brother Consolmagno is a planetary scientist who has studied meteorites and asteroids at the Vatican Observatory since 1993. He had been serving as president of the Vatican Observatory Foundation, coordinator of public relations and curator of the Vatican meteorite collection in Castel Gandolfo, one of the largest in the world.
