"Do you know how many stars there are in the observable universe? An impressive and marvellous number: a sextillion stars – a 1 followed by 24 zeros! If we divided them among the 8 billion inhabitants of Earth, each person would have hundreds of billions of stars to themselves. With the naked eye, on clear nights, we can see about five thousand of them. However, they show us a direction, just like when sailing at sea. Travellers have always found their way using the stars. Sailors followed the North Star; Polynesians crossed the ocean by memorising star charts. According to the farmers of the Andes, whom I met as a missionary in Peru, the sky is an open book that marks the seasons of sowing, shearing, and the cycles of life. Even the Magi followed a star to get to Bethlehem and worship the Baby Jesus."
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Mathematicians from the United StatesCatholics from the United StatesPeople from ChicagoRoman Catholic bishopsCardinals
Original Language: English
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Quoted in Leone XIV: agli studenti, “ognuno di voi è una stella”, “guardate in alto, non fermatevi a guardare lo smartphone”, AgenSIR, 30 October 2025
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pope_Leo_XIV
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Pope Leo XIV
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