“Aliens Are My Brother”
This is the title of an article recently penned by Vatican astronomer Father Gabriel Funes. The fact that the Catholic church has again tried to keep up with the times (and its diminishing flock) by addressing the “alien” issue is noteworthy. Apparently the idea is to modernize by discussing subjects that the the kids are all about these days. This after the announcement in May of 2008 from the Pope that it was OK for Catholics to believe in alien life.
From the BBC News:
The Pope’s chief astronomer says that life on Mars cannot be ruled out. Writing in the Vatican newspaper, the astronomer, Father Gabriel Funes, said intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space.
Father Funes, director of the Vatican Observatory near Rome, is a respected scientist who collaborates with universities around the world. The search for forms of extraterrestrial life, he says, does not contradict belief in God.
The official Vatican newspaper headlines his article ‘Aliens Are My Brother’.
Just as there are multiple forms of life on earth, so there could exist intelligent beings in outer space created by God. And some aliens could even be free from original sin, he speculates.
Whose original sin? Ours? Theirs? Who has the monopoly on the definition?
An interesting article on the Vatican Observatory was published by Wired in 2002.
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Nov 14 2009 
November 17th, 2009 at 5:40 am
I wonder what would Salvador Freixedo think of all this.
Dude is a Spanish ufologist and a former Jesuit priest that came to the conclusion —similar to Keel I believe— that evil aliens had a plan to oppress mankind; he was advocating for the whole “aliens are demons” before the idea became popular in the United States.
He made many mistakes, though. For starters, he wrote in an article that he believed the Alternative 3 mockumentary was real!
And speaking of mockumentaries: yesterday I finally had the chance to watch District 9. Very good SF movie, but one thing bothered me: the total absence of the religious implications of aliens arriving to Earth; guess the director wasn’t too interested in exploring that angle.
November 17th, 2009 at 8:29 am
Drew,
Although Freixedo has a Catholic viewpoint of the phenomenon, he is outside his church’s interpretation and definitely beyond the pale for most ufologists, which is why I like him!
November 18th, 2009 at 3:10 am
Thanks for the response, Nick