The EWTN News article from April 1, 2026, reports on the Artemis II lunar mission, featuring an interview with Jesuit Father Richard A. D’Souza, director of the Vatican Observatory since September 2025. D’Souza calls the mission “a great development,” emphasizing scientific inquiry, the need for caution, and concerns about commercial inequality and space pollution. The article presents the Vatican Observatory’s perspective as one of cautious support for space exploration, conditioned by a focus on human benefit and environmental stewardship. **The fatal omission is any reference to the supernatural mission of the Catholic Church, the Social Kingship of Christ, or the ultimate end of man: the glory of God and the salvation of souls.** This silence reveals a profound apostasy, reducing the Church’s voice to that of a mere scientific or ethical NGO, fully aligned with the naturalistic humanism condemned by pre-1958 Magisterium.
Naturalistic Humanism Masquerading as Catholic Thought
The article’s core framework is a naturalistic, almost secular, humanism. D’Souza states the mission will “hopefully lead to answers about the origin of the moon” and highlights experiments on the moon’s far side to “listen to faint signals from the cosmos.” This focus on empirical science and human curiosity, while not inherently evil, is presented as an end in itself. The Catholic Church, however, has always taught that all true science must be ordered to the knowledge and glory of God. As Pope Pius XI declared in *Quas Primas* (1925), the Kingdom of Christ encompasses all human activity: “His reign, namely, extends not only to Catholic nations… but His reign encompasses also all non-Christians, so that most truly the entire human race is subject to the authority of Jesus Christ.” The article’s perspective completely severs scientific endeavor from this foundational truth. The “benefit of all” and avoidance of “inequality and injustice” are framed in purely material, socio-economic terms, echoing the modernist error of reducing religion to a promoter of worldly progress, which Pope Pius IX condemned in the *Syllabus of Errors* (1864, Error 40: “The teaching of the Catholic Church is hostile to the well-being and interests of society”). The true Catholic view is that all human progress must be subordinated to the law of God and the salvation of souls; without this ordering, it becomes an idolatry of human achievement.
The Omission of Christ’s Kingship and the Church’s Supernatural Mission
The most glaring and damning omission is the total silence on the Social Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ. D’Souza discusses “human spaceflight,” “commercial benefit,” and “pollution of pristine environments” without once acknowledging that every square inch of the universe, including the moon, belongs to Christ the King. *Quas Primas* is unequivocal: “all power in heaven and on earth has been given to Him… His reign encompasses all human nature.” The article’s entire premise accepts the modern secular separation of the sacred from the profane, treating space exploration as a purely human, scientific endeavor. This is the very error Pius XI identified as the cause of societal collapse: “When God and Jesus Christ… were removed from laws and states… the foundations of that authority were destroyed.” The Vatican Observatory, in this interview, functions as an organ of the conciliar sect, promoting a “Church” that has nothing to say about the duty of rulers and scientists to publicly recognize and obey Christ. The article’s concern for “peace, justice” is a hollow shell, for true peace can only exist in the Kingdom of Christ (cf. *Quas Primas*: “Then at last… swords and weapons will fall from hands, when all willingly accept the reign of Christ”).
The Vatican Observatory: From Faith-Science Dialogue to Naturalistic Propaganda
The institution itself, the Vatican Observatory, has been transformed from a center where science was pursued in the light of Faith into a mouthpiece for the conciliar sect’s naturalistic worldview. Pre-1958, the Church’s engagement with science was always under the auspices of the unchanging Faith, with the clear understanding that scientific theories contradicting revealed truth were to be rejected. The *Syllabus of Errors* (Error 3) condemns the idea that “Human reason… is the sole arbiter of truth and falsehood.” Yet D’Souza’s comments operate on the premise that scientific inquiry into origins is a neutral, autonomous pursuit. He speaks of “unanswered questions about the origin of the moon” without the faintest hint that the true answer is found in Genesis: “In the beginning God created heaven and earth.” This is the modernist synthesis of all errors condemned by St. Pius X in *Pascendi Dominici gregis* (1907) and *Lamentabili sane exitu* (1907). Proposition 20 of *Lamentabili* states: “Revelation was merely man’s self-awareness of his relationship to God.” The article’s underlying assumption is precisely this: that the cosmos can be understood without reference to a Creator, and that the Church’s role is to cheerlead for this “progress” while offering mild ethical cautions about inequality.
The Error of “Benefit for All” vs. the Social Kingship of Christ
D’Souza’s warning that space benefits should lead to “the benefit of all and not to further inequality and injustice” is a direct echo of the modernists’ social gospel, stripped of its supernatural foundation. The *Syllabus* (Error 39) condemns the notion that “The State, as being the origin and source of all rights, is endowed with a certain right not circumscribed by any limits.” The conciliar sect has inverted this, now preaching that the State (or international bodies) must ensure “benefit for all,” a phrase that is a code for socialist redistribution and globalist governance, both of which are rooted in the condemned errors of liberalism and socialism (Syllabus, Section IV). The Catholic doctrine, defined by Pope Leo XIII in *Immortale Dei* (1885) and reiterated by Pius XI, is that the primary duty of the State is to recognize the reign of Christ and enact laws in conformity with His law. The article’s focus on distributive justice as an end in itself, divorced from the justice of submitting all societal structures to Christ the King, is a manifestation of the “errors concerning civil society” condemned in the *Syllabus* (Errors 39-55). It promotes a naturalistic, Pelagian view of society where man can build a just world without grace and without Christ.
Environmental Concerns as a Substitute for Moral Teaching
The article highlights the Vatican’s concern about “pollution of pristine environments in space” and “space debris.” This is not a legitimate Catholic concern for stewardship of God’s creation (which is valid), but in this context, it is a classic modernist substitution. By focusing on environmental pollution—a tangible, measurable, and politically trendy issue—the conciliar sect avoids speaking about the far more serious pollution of sin, heresy, and apostasy. The *Syllabus* (Error 58) condemns the idea that “all the rectitude and excellence of morality ought to be placed in the accumulation and increase of riches by every possible means, and the gratification of pleasure.” Today’s conciliar “morality” often places primary emphasis on environmental care while remaining silent or even promoting grave moral evils (
Source:
Artemis II moon mission ‘a great development,’ Vatican Observatory director says (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 01.04.2026