Pope Francis talks to ISS astronauts

International Space Station astronauts pondered man's place in the universe during a Thursday morning conversation with Pope Francis.

“What gives me the greatest joy every day is being able to look outside and see God’s creation, maybe a little bit from his perspective,” radioed NASA's Randy Bresnik, commander of the six-person Expedition 53 crew orbiting 250 miles above the planet. “People cannot come up here and see the indescribable beauty of Earth and not be touched in their souls.”

Francis, speaking from the Vatican, replied that the astronauts circling the heavens at 17,500 mph “have succeeded in understanding that Earth is too fragile” and also appreciate “our roots and our hope and our strength.”

"As you are contemplating the unbounded limits of the universe, it makes us think about where we come from and where we are going," the 80-year-old pontiff said through a translator.

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It was the second papal phone call to space: Pope Benedict XVI rang the space station in 2011 and asked about the future of the planet and the environmental risks it faced. Before Benedict, Pope Paul VI sent a radio message to astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins after their historic 1969 moonwalk, calling them "conquerors of the Moon."

During Thursday's roughly 20-minute discussion, the pope asked the astronauts from the United States, Russia and Italy what they thought of Dante's reference to love being the force that moves the universe, and how they perceive man's place in the cosmos.

“When we speak of these eternal questions of where we come from, I remain rather perplexed,” said Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency, who translated his crewmates’ responses into Italian. “Our objective here is that of knowing our being, and to fill our knowledge, to understand what’s around us. But on the other hand, an interesting thing is that the more we know, the more we realize how little we know.”

The astronauts said they hoped their multi-national work together in space inspires people on Earth, which from above appears borderless and peaceful.

"You see the thinness of the atmosphere, and it makes you realize how fragile our existence here is," said Bresnik, a retired Marine Corps colonel. "We hope that that example of what we can achieve together is an example for the world and all of humanity, so that as we work to get more access to space and more people can see that perspective from space, that maybe humanity’s future is a lot better than what we have now."

Francis asked for examples of how the crew works together, saying that “our society is very individualistic, but instead what’s essential to life is collaboration.”

NASA astronaut Joe Acaba, a geologist and former teacher, described how the multi-national crew works with teams on the ground from the U.S., Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan.

“It is our diversity that makes us stronger,” said Acaba. “I think we need to embrace who we are as individuals, and respect those around us. And by working together, we can do things much greater than we can do as individuals.”

“The totality is greater than the sum of the parts, and this is the example that you give us,” the pope replied.

“Thank you,” said Nespoli, as translated on NASA TV, “for having brought us to a higher level, and to have pulled us out of this daily mechanical environment and to make us reflect on things that are greater than we are.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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