On Monday 27 March, RTÉ reported that the Vatican has announced a message of the Holy Father, made in the midst of the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown, will be sent into space.
The pontiff’s words, once made in an empty Saint Peter’s Square were made into a nanobook which is less than two millimetres in size. On June 10, 2023, the nanobook will be sent into orbit.
“It will travel around the earth on a purpose-built satellite at an altitude of about 525 kilometres, dispatched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
“ISA President Giorgio Saccoccia said the Vatican had asked for ‘a solution that would allow the Holy Father’s words of hope to cross the earth’s borders and reach from space the greatest possible number of women and men on our troubled planet’.”
On 27 March 2020, the Pope urged followers who felt “afraid and lost” during the pandemic to have faith.
You can read the full story here.
