The call, which was organised by the European Space Agency and NASA, aimed to connect Francis with the astronauts on board the space station - three Americans, two Russians and one Italian.

The Vatican planned for the phone call to be transmitted live by its Television Center.

Although the phone call was timed to take place after this issue of CathNews went to print, it is possible to catch up with what Francis and the astronauts said via a webcast of the in-flight interview on NASA TV and the Vatican's YouTube page.

This will be the second time Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli has received a phone call from a pope. He was on board when Pope emeritus Benedict XVI called the space station in 2011.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the archbishop of Galveston-Houston, was booked to join the Pope for the call.

Source

• Space.com
• The Week
• Zenit
• Image: nasa.gov

Over the past five years, the Vatican has been digitising its records. Many of these are very old.

The system being used - known as "FITS", which is short for flexible image transport system format was developed in the 1970s.

The European Space Agency and NASA developed the program in the 1970s when they were working on radio astronomy projects.

Besides helping preserve original documents, the FITS system also provides information so the data can be decoded quickly.

This means future programs will still be able to decode the information even when the technology being used today becomes obsolescent.

A ceremony at the Vatican last Friday formally agreed the Vatican-ESA co-operation will continue for another year.

"Our collaboration is based on the common intention by our two institutions to promote the long-term preservation of images in electronic format," Monsignor Cesare Pasini, Prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Library on the ESA website said.

"Thanks to our co-operation with ESA, the Vatican Library has found the courage to make an innovative choice to use the FITS format for long-term storage."

Pasini noted how the recent seismic events in Italy have further highlighted the importance of the preservation of information and to accommodate changes in information storage technology.

"The Vatican Apostolic Library and ESA are two examples that attest to the approach of collaboration for global benefit," said Josef Aschbacher, Director of Earth Observation Programmes at ESA.

"While ESA provides global information about the state of our planet through satellite observations, the Vatican Apostolic Library offers a unique source of wisdom that has contributed to the development of our society and culture," he said.

Source

• Observing the Earth
• eNews Park Forest
• Radio Vatican
• Image: The Telegraph