When astronauts made their first steps on the moon in 1969, leaders from around the world sent messages to NASA that would be placed in a capsule and left on the lunar surface.
This included a signed copy of Psalm 8 from Pope Paul VI. NASA described it: "A highly decorative message from the Vatican is signed by Pope Paul."
Psalm 8 was handwritten in Latin and is a Psalm that glorifies God and his creation:
O Lord, our Lord,
how awesome is your name through all the earth!I will sing of your majesty above the heavens
with the mouths of babes and infants.
You have established a bulwark against your foes,
to silence enemy and avenger.When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and stars that you set in place—
What is man that you are mindful of him,
and a son of man that you care for him? (Psalm 8:2-5)
Pope Paul VI then wrote underneath it, "To the glory of God’s name who grants such great power to men, we pray for the success of this wonderful undertaking. Paulus PP VI AD 1969."
The letter (presumably) remains on the moon to this very day.
Message to the astronauts
Pope Paul VI was very interested in the lunar landing and sent the astronauts a message, according to the Interdisciplinary Documentation on Religion and Science:
Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to men of good will!
Christ, when coming among us from the abysses of the divinity, made this blessed voice resound in the firmament. Today We, his humble representative, echo and repeat it as a festive hymn on the part of our whole terrestrial globe, no longer the insurmountable boundary of human existence but the open threshold to the wide expanse of boundless space and new destinies.
Glory to God!
Setting foot on the moon was seen by Pope Paul VI as an extraordinary opportunity to give glory to God for all that he created.
