The Daily Beast reports that astronomers met at the Vatican for a conference in honour of Georges Lemaître. Lemaître, a Catholic priest and astronomer, proposed in 1927 the notion of a "primordial atom" from which the Universe originated. His idea is now commonly called the Big Bang theory. The article notes that the words "God" and "religion" are absent from the titles of the presentations.
Slides (PDF) associated with the presentations are available from the Web site of the Vatican Observatory.
further reading:
official announcement
biography of Lemaître
The Cornell Daily Sun article about Lemaître
additional coverage:
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 19 2017, @01:14PM
See the Catholic Church of Virgin Birth
On its shell it holds the Earth.
Its thought is slow, but always kind.
It holds us all within his mind.
On its back all vows are made;
It sees the truth but mayn't aid.
It loves the land and loves the sea,
And even loves a child like me.