Educated by Jesuits in Bologna, and by the Paduan astronomer, Geminiano Montanari, Bianchini spent most of his university years in Padua studying comets while enrolled in Theology.

In 1684 he went to Rome, and became librarian to Cardinal Ottoboni, who, as Pope Alexander VIII (1689), raised him to the offices of papal chamberlain and canon of Santa Maria Maggiore.

[3] His deduction of a rotational period of Venus was based on the observation of its surface using a 2.6" (66mm) 100-foot focal length aerial telescope.

As part of his efforts to improve the accuracy of the calendar, Bianchini was commissioned by Clement XI to construct an important meridian line in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri (the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs) in Rome, a device for calculating the position of the sun and stars.

[5] According to a Catholic News Service online news story by Carol Glatz from 5 August 2011, Pope Benedict XVI noted this when he explained the importance of astronomy – especially when clocks were primitive and prone to error – in the determination of certain liturgical celebration days and the times for certain daily prayers, such as the Angelus.