Vatican Drone Show: Solemnity, Awe, and New Tech

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Photos from Catholic News Agency 'Vatican lights up with drone show at historic Grace for the World concert'. Illuminated drones reproduce: (background) Michelangelo's 'Pieta' over St. Peter's Basilica (Courtney Mares); (right) Pope Francis above St. Peter's Basilica (Eva Fernández); (upper left) a detail from Michelangelo's 'Creation of Adam' (Courtney Mares); (lower left) a detail of the icon 'Salus Popoli Romani' (Courtney Mares). (September 14, 2025

Only 3,000 or so of Nova's 3,500 on-site drones were in the air at any one time during the Vatican's "Grace for the World" Saturday evening concert (September 13, 2025).

Thoroe's map: Vatican City, including data from OpenStreetMap. (March 23, 2013)LEDs on those 12-ounce mini-helicopters can display 16,000,000 different colors.

I don't know how many the Nova team used during the concert. Colors, I mean. The 3,000 drones airborne with 500 recharging at any given time is pretty clear.

However many colors they used, the show made quite an impression on folks in St. Peter's Square....

More at A Catholic Citizen in America.

(My response to the first Vatican drone show, a short video by someone attending the concert: and how I see drones, art, and being human.)

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