Vatican's Change
梵蒂冈的转变
"If the Big Bang was the start of everything, what came before it?"
如果大爆炸是宇宙万事万物的起源，那么在此之前又是什么呢?
That is one of the questions being posed by a new website being set up by the Vatican and Italy's scientific community. After centuries of mistrust between religion and science, the intention is to give the public a greater understanding of both sides.
这是由梵蒂冈和意大利科学界新建立的一个网站所提出的问题之一。该网站的目的是希望宗教界和科学界在经历了几个世纪的相互猜疑之后，能够提供给公众一个更好的了解双方的机会。
The website, which will be available in Italian and English, has information on everything from astronomy to theology, from space missions to philosophy and art. It will have three portals -one for a general audience, one for students and their professors, and one for scholars.
该网站同时有意大利语和英语两种语言设置，内容包罗万象，从天文学到神学，从太空任务到哲学和艺术。它有三个门户网站——一个面向普通读者，一个面向学生和他们的导师们，还有一个开放的对象是学者。每一个门户中将会有许多媒体平台，包括一个宇宙天体平台，还有一个是由人造卫星和无人探测器收集到的最新数据。
Within each portal, there will be a variety of multimedia platforms, including a cosmology section , and one that will have the latest data collected by satellites and unmanned probes.
此项创意工作是由梵蒂冈和意大利空间署 (ASI)共同来开发运作的。
The venture is being run jointly by the Vatican and the Italian Space Agency( ASI).
教宗的拉特朗大学哲学系的系主任蒙斯格诺·吉安富兰库·巴斯迪将成为该计划梵蒂冈方面指定的代表。
Monsignor Gianfranco Basti, the dean of the Pontifical Lateran University's philosophy department, will be the Vatican's point man on the scheme.
他说教会方面的观点是希望使信教的人们知道科学家不是他们的敌人，同时科学家们也不把信教的教徒视作他们的敌人。其目的就是要使政方为了人类美好的将来而联合起来。"
He says: "From the Church' s point of view, this is about getting religious people to see that scientists are not the enemy and getting scientists to see that religious people are not the enemy. The aim is for both sides to come together for the good of humanity."
意大利空间署的皮耶鲁·班万努迪相信这么做的一切都是为了了解现实。他说科学是有助于了解现实，但是它也不可能获知一切问题的答案，我们必须接受这一事实。"而且，梵蒂冈方面会监督网站中有关神学的部分， ASI也会维护有关科学的内容，例如近期欧洲和美国的空间飞行。
ASI's Piero Benvenuti believes it is all about understanding reality. "Science can help in that, but it doesn't have all the answers, and we must accept that," he says. While the Vatican will oversee the website's theological sections, ASI will look after the scientific content, including the latest European and American space flights.
当教皇格雷戈里十三世组建了一个委员会研究相关的科学数据时，天主教堂却与 16世纪时的天文数据发生了联系。
The Catholic Church's links with astronomy date back to the 16th Century, when Pope Gregory XIII formed a committee to study the relevant scientific data. Galileo was among those who fell foul of the Church's doctrines. Since then, the papacy has maintained its interest in astronomical research with some degree of continuity.
伽里略正是那时反对教会创世学说的学者之一。也是从那时起，教皇对天文学研究产生了长期浓厚的兴趣。
Its first observatory was constructed in Italy at the end of the 18th Century. In 1993, the Vatican's Advanced Technology Telescope was completed on Mt Graham in Arizona, and is regarded by many as the best astronomical site in the continental US.
在 18世纪末，意大利建起了第一座天文观测台。1993年，梵蒂冈最先进的望远镜在美国亚利桑那州的格雷厄姆山上完全建成，这被许多人认定为美洲大陆上最先进的天文台。
But there was a time when the Church was hostile to those who challenged orthodox teachings.
但历史上曾经有一段时间，教会极力反对那些向传统说教挑战的人。
In the centre of Rome you can still see the statue of Giordano Bruno. He was a Dominican friar who was burned at the stake in 1600 for suggesting the universe was infinite.
在罗马的市中心，你依旧可以看到几亚丹诺·布鲁诺德塑像。他曾经是一名多米尼亚的修道士，在1600年，他因提出宇宙是无限的观点而被绑在木桩上烧死。
Galileo, the 17th Century astronomer and mathematician, also found himself in hot water with the Church for claiming that the Earth revolved around the sun.
伽利略，一位17世纪的天文学家和数学家，他因宣称地球绕太阳运动而同样被教堂浸在热水中烫死。
The Catholic Church has come a long way since then.
自那时起天主教堂也已经走过了很长一段路。
It is no longer suspicious of those who try to explain the universe in scientific terms. Where there are scientifically proven explanations for things, the Church says they should be accepted. Where there are not, then faith may have a role.
他们不再怀疑那些尝试在科学领域来解释宇宙的人。凡是可以用科学来证明或解释的事情，教会表示他们都可以接受;而凡是科学证明不了的，信仰就会起主导作用。
The Church says it is about parallel realities, not competing ones.
教堂方面认为这是一种平行的现实，并不是竞争性的。
"I can believe in God and at the same time accept Einstein's theory that time has not always existed," says Msgr Basti. Professor Benvenuti agrees with this double truth. "I cannot, as a scientist, prove love exists, but 1know it's there," he says.
马斯格里表示我可以相信上帝，但同时也接受爱因斯坦关于时间并不总是存在的理论。"班万努迪教授也同意这种双重真理的说法，他讲道作为科学家我不能证明爱的存在，但我知道它确实就在这里。"
In the same way, the Vatican's senior astronomer has gone on record as saying intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space, and that alien life does not .contradict Church doctrine. That is why the Vatican is now supporting the new website, with its mixture of hard data and philosophical interpretation. It is about uniting to overcome the divide between fact and faith -what is explicable and what is not.
同样，梵蒂冈的高级天文学家一直公开表明观点，称外太空可能存在上帝创造的智能人类，外星人的生活和教堂的教义并不抵触。这也是为什么梵蒂冈现在支持新网站采用现实数据和哲学解释相结合的原因。其实这就是用联合的方式来弥合事实与信仰之间的分歧——哪些是可以解释的，哪些又是解释不了的。
The strength of Christian beliefs and the rigour of scientific endeavour make this a unique tool, with the message that when it comes to our origins, proof and trust can exist together.
天主教徒信仰的力量，严格的科学努力，再加上关于人类起源的时间、证据和存在的设想等方面的信息，使得这已成为一种独特的工具。