Human InterestVatican Puts Stamp of Approval on Belief in Aliens
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.
May 13th, 2008 at 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.
May 13th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Finally, the religious right gets something…um…right.
May 13th, 2008 at 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!
May 14th, 2008 at 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.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Chris,
You stole my comment.
Good on you.
May 15th, 2008 at 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 […]
May 15th, 2008 at 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.