Top Kiwi scholar is seeing stars – and has met Pope Leo

By CathNews New Zealand

July 22nd, 2025

Mia Boothroyd meets Pope Leo XIV (Carmel College)

Former Carmel College top scholar Mia Boothroyd has attended a Vatican Observatory summer school and had the chance to speak with Pope Leo XIV.

Miss Boothroyd attended the prestigious Vatican Observatory Summer School (VOSS) in Albano/Castel Gandolfo, Italy, alongside 23 other astronomy students from 22 countries.

She recently sent an email to her former school on Auckland’s North Shore to share her experience and hopefully inspire current Carmel students.

“It was such an amazing time – we learnt so much and met so many people from around the world,” Miss Boothroyd wrote in her email.

The 2025 programme focused on new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope, covering topics like exoplanets, astrochemistry and galactic phenomena. Outside of lectures, the group explored ancient ruins in Ostia Antica, visited monasteries in Subiaco and walked the historic streets of Rome.

A highlight was an audience with Pope Leo. The students were also granted special access to areas of the Vatican not usually open to tourists. “When I met the Pope, I told him I was going to send the photo to my school teachers, so I better keep my promise!” Miss Boothroyd said.

Now beginning her PhD in Denmark, researching meteorites and planetary formation, Miss Boothroyd credits Carmel College with helping ignite her love of science.

“It was actually at Carmel I first learnt about the Vatican Observatory . . . without which I never would’ve known about VOSS!” she wrote.

VOSS runs every two years and is open to students studying astronomy, physics or mathematics at undergraduate or postgraduate level. In her email, Miss Boothroyd also remembered and thanked the teachers at Carmel who taught her science.

The director of the Vatican Observatory, Br Guy Consolmagno SJ, is visiting Aotearoa New Zealand next month. He has a number of public events between August 1 and 13 in Auckland, Wellington, Kaikoura, Christchurch and Timaru.

Click here to see Br Guy’s New Zealand schedule.

FULL STORY

From Carmel to the Vatican: Inspiring the next generation (Carmel College)

Head of Vatican Observatory preparing for fourth NZ trip (NZCBC)