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Vatican Puts Stamp of Approval on Belief in Aliens

May 13, 2008 by Sam Sloan   || Category: Human Interest

Source: L’Osservatore Romano

The Vatican stated today through the Reverend Jose Gabriel Funes, the pontiff’s chief astronomer, that it is acceptable for Catholics to believe in alien life outside the planet Earth and that such belief in no way contradicts the Church’s teachings on faith in God.

In his official statement Rev. Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, said that the vastness of the universe surely can indicate it is possible there could be other forms of intellligent life outside Earth capable of having faith in a god.

Life outside our own understanding of creation “doesn’t contradict our faith,” stated Fune. “Aliens would still be God’s creatures…..[and rejecting such a notion would be] putting limits” on God’s universality.

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Comments

11 Responses to “Vatican Puts Stamp of Approval on Belief in Aliens”

  1. Pimenta on May 13th, 2008 9:09 pm

    So…. believing in aliens isn’t against catholic church?
    Who believes those guys anyway???
    They are reaching anywhere they can. Desperate. An ending religion.

  2. P.C. Haring on May 13th, 2008 9:28 pm

    Finally, the religious right gets something…um…right.

  3. Gebo on May 13th, 2008 10:53 pm

    That’s quite a statement from the Church. In 1600, Giordano Bruno - a priest - was burnt at the stake as a heretic by the Roman Inquisition because, amongst other things, Bruno had posed the idea that the stars were all suns, each with their own planets, and some of those planets could be the home of other creatures and intelligent beings!

  4. Chris Lester on May 14th, 2008 2:36 pm

    Between this and Pope John Paul II admitting that evolution is a real phenomenon, I think that the Church is starting to catch up with the 21st century. Fune is right, of course: the universe is far too big and our understanding far too little for us to make flat statements about the existence or nonexistence of extraterrestrial life. This is a welcome gesture of humility from a church that has, in the past, tried to use orthodoxy as a substitute for scientific inquiry.

  5. Deven Science on May 14th, 2008 11:41 pm

    Chris,

    You stole my comment.

    Good on you.

  6. Four Things I Love Today « not so deep thoughts on May 15th, 2008 4:50 am

    [...] The Vatican says it’s ok to believe in aliens. Awesome. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Where I’ve beenWhere I’ve [...]

  7. Matt on May 15th, 2008 5:47 am

    Chris,

    I’d say they’re just starting to catch up with the *20th* century.
    There’s a way to go yet to get to the 21st . . . stem cell research and whatnot.

  8. sage on October 20th, 2008 3:06 pm

    i don’t have to have a pope or anyone to tell me what is alright to believe in, no wonder this world is in trouble.. you can’t believe in something unless a pope says it is ok!! what a bunch of garbage.

  9. Doug Parnell on January 26th, 2009 3:55 am

    Yes, they have come to there sences. Somewhat. Although i’m a person that believes in god & aliens. More so for the aliens. I’ve seen there ships & them aswell. I know it sounds crazy, but they are real. Most of them are just explorer’s just like SG1. I can only hope that they help us in a positive way. Who knows, they might need us to help them out.

  10. semperskeptic on January 26th, 2009 8:34 am

    SG-1 come through a gate, not in ships. And they do not hide from the locals. Quite the opposite, in fact. And in general their “help” involves blowing things up, shooting at stuff, and getting people killed.

    Frankly, I prefer the surreptitious abductors scenario as they only target unstable individuals, and the occasional cow.

  11. Todd on April 19th, 2009 8:08 am

    The Vatican is obviously being controlled by aliens for them to make such a statement, so this must be true! WOW!
    But please explain to me how then is it so hard for people to believe in Jesus Christ and that He died on a cross some 2000 years ago and rose from the grave to show us that we too can have eternal life? After all most people that believe in aliens are those that believe we evolved some billions and billions of years ago from an rock! WOW again!
    So… Is it OK to believe in aliens but not OK to believe in God?
    And people have the nerve to say that Christians are closed minded people! ha.

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