Framed group photograph at the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences in 2016. At the centre is Pope Francis I. At the far right are Stephen Hawking and his graduate assistant Jonathan Wood.

The December 2016 academic session marked the 50th anniversary of the death of Georges Lemaitre, one of the originators of the Big Bang theory in the 1920s. Hawking gave a talk titled "The Origin of the Universe".

This Vatican visit turned out to be Stephen Hawking's last trip abroad, and he was hospitalized during part of his stay in Rome. During the next years he remained closer to home in Britain and attended foreign events virtually.

One of the most frequent items on the walls of Stephen Hawking's office are photographs of individuals, most often original prints. A good portion of these are individual portraits of his scientific heroes; he did not have individual photos of his closest mentors or collaborators, as those appear in several group photos taken during academic conferences. A few of the photos, whose selection may have been haphazard, point to the everyday fun of working with colleagues. Another subset of photographs, all dating after the 1987 publication of A Brief History of time, relate to Stephen's contact with celebrities and politicans, or media appearances. A few of the photographs relate to people with whom Stephen shared specific causes. Finally, also present in his office are photographs of some of of the sponsors of the scientific activities of Stephen and his academic department.

Stephen also had multiple photograph of his family, but they were not included in the office acquisition.