Is one of the roles that the Vatican Observatory plays in astronomy that of verifying what other astronomers are telling the public in order to make sure what they are reporting to the public is actually true?
No, not formally. The watchdog for astronomers is the astronomical community itself, and so by being part of that community the Vatican Observatory astronomers join in that watchdog role. For example, we join in refereeing papers by other astronomers before they are published in the main journals, just as our papers are so refereed; and we write book reviews and critiques along with the rest. Theories, such as the Big Bang, certainly have a powerful effect on our imagination. One must always be careful though when a theory fits too well into our imaginations or theologies: e.g., Pius XII in 1951 seemed to jump too readily on the Big Bang bandwagon because it implied a beginning of the universe and so fitted in rather well with the first chapter of Genesis (See Jósef Turek on Georges Lemaître and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Vatican Observatory Publications, Vol.2, No.13, p.167). So, the Vatican Observatory is not the police force for astronomers, but we join in the self-policing that must happen in the sciences, for we are always in danger of jumping on bandwagons and of espousing later-proven false theories.
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