Meet The New Boss!

Br. Guy Consolmagno chats with Rev. Richard A. D'Souza - the incoming Director of the Vatican Observatory! He takes the reins from Br. Guy on September 19, 2025.

Co-Hosts:
Br. Guy Consolmagno SJ: Director of Vatican Observatory and President of the Vatican Observatory Foundation.
Bob Trembley: Factotum for the Vatican Observatory Foundation.

Guest:
Rev. Richard A. D'Souza, Sj was born in 1978 in Pune, India and hails from Goa, India. His initial school years were spent in Kuwait. From 1990, he moved back to his home state of Goa, India and joined a Jesuit school.

After finishing his schooling, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1996, and finished his two years novitiate in Belgaum, India. This was followed by a year of study of the humanities (Juniorate) in Pune. In 2002, he completed his graduation in Physics at St.Xaviers' college in Mumbai and proceeded for his Masters in Physics to the University of Heidelberg, where he worked at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy for his thesis work.

He returned to Pune in 2005 to complete a Bachelors degree in Philosophy. In 2007, he founded and ran the St. Paul's Community College in Belgaum to help school dropouts find gainful employment. After finishing his Bachelors in Theology in 2011 in Pune, he retuned to Goa and ran a popular theology programme for the laity called "Deepen Your Faith".

In 2012, he started his doctoral studies in Astronomy at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, in Garching, Munich, graduating in 2016. In 2016, he formally joined the staff of the Vatican Observatory as well started at the same time a postdoc at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. In 2019, he moved to the headquarters of the Vatican Observatory in Castel Gandolfo. Since 2022, he has been serving as the Superior of the Jesuit community attached to the Vatican Observatory.

Vatican Observatory website: https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/
Follow Rev. D'Souza on Bluesky.

Intro music: Irreducible by ComaStudio
Finale music:  Cinematic Documentary by Lexin_Music