Vatican: It’s OK to believe in aliens

by Paulo Coelho on May 20, 2008

Today while browsing through Digg, I found this curious article written by By ARIEL DAVID for the Associated Press

VATICAN CITY – Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican’s chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday.

The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, was quoted as saying the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.

“How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?” Funes said. “Just as we consider earthly creatures as ‘a brother,’ and ‘sister,’ why should we not talk about an ‘extraterrestrial brother’? It would still be part of creation.”

In the interview by the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Funes said that such a notion “doesn’t contradict our faith” because aliens would still be God’s creatures. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like “putting limits” on God’s creative freedom, he said.

The interview, headlined “The extraterrestrial is my brother,” covered a variety of topics including the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and science, and the theological implications of the existence of alien life.

To read the rest of the article, please go here.

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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

wanbliska May 21, 2008 at 9:10 pm

Look at the pic: what a nice firewall!

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Anlao May 21, 2008 at 3:20 am

Well, of course they have to say it, didn’t we already find unicellular life forms on Europa (one of Jupiter’s moons)? To me, that was one of the most important discoveries of the century.

It’s not a matter of believing or not, it’s a matter of scientifical evidence. The fact that these “aliens” are not as we imagine or see in the movies, does not make them any less important.

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Agnieszka May 21, 2008 at 12:48 am

It’s a positive and natural thing that believes, points of view change. Life changes, we’re changing. What was happening during medieval times etc..is no longer happening, everything become clearer, better, step by step. And it doesn’t matter what it concerns; if we could only as a human beings be brave enough to admit to our mistakes, our wrong doing, our hurtful behavior, and change, life would be less painful and more beautiful.

love
Agnieszka

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Nancy May 21, 2008 at 12:12 am

The Vatican astromer, Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, sounds like a very interesting man. I am surprise the Vatican would make a statement regarding the existense of extraterrestrials. It’s a tricky topic to talk about for anyone. It’s true though about “Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like “putting limits” on God’s creative freedom”.

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rosa de los vientos May 20, 2008 at 10:34 pm

I like very much this notice. I believe in God, I believe in the human and I believed in extraterrestre´s life because the Universe is very great and I think that don´t to be alone.
I like very much Vatican´s pronunciation, is very good they tolk about that.
Thank you Paulo because you sharing this notice with us, I like very much.
Kises for you, many kises.

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