Vatican: It’s OK to believe in aliens
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 | 
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Posted by John under: Strong Delusion,The Falling Away
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.
Strong Delusion
“The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?”
—Jeremiah 5:31
The Falling Away
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;”
— 2Thessalonians 2:3
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.
Funes said science, especially astronomy, does not contradict religion, touching on a theme of Pope Benedict XVI, who has made exploring the relationship between faith and reason a key aspect of his papacy.
The Bible “is not a science book,” Funes said, adding that he believes the Big Bang theory is the most “reasonable” explanation for the creation of the universe. The theory says the universe began billions of years ago in the explosion of a single, super-dense point that contained all matter.
But he said he continues to believe that “God is the creator of the universe and that we are not the result of chance.”
Funes urged the church and the scientific community to leave behind divisions caused by Galileo’s persecution 400 years ago, saying the incident has “caused wounds.”
In 1633 the astronomer was tried as a heretic and forced to recant his theory that the Earth revolved around the sun. Church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe.
“The church has somehow recognized its mistakes,” he said. “Maybe it could have done it better, but now it’s time to heal those wounds and this can be done through calm dialogue and collaboration.”
Pope John Paul declared in 1992 that the ruling against Galileo was an error resulting from “tragic mutual incomprehension.”
The Vatican Observatory has been at the forefront of efforts to bridge the gap between religion and science. Its scientist-clerics have generated top-notch research and its meteorite collection is considered one of the world’s best.
The observatory, founded by Pope Leo XIII in 1891, is based in Castel Gandolfo, a lakeside town in the hills outside Rome where the pope has a summer residence. It also conducts research at an observatory at the University of Arizona, in Tucson.
Lisa says Comment posted on May 15th, 2008
Scripture states clearly that the earth is round. Job 26:10, the oldest written document known to man, along with Isaiah 40:22, the largest number of surviving ancient copies of any writing, and also in Proverbs 8:27, written by one of the most documented personalities of history, all state the earth is round.
It was the Catholic church that demanded the earth was flat and killed the Christians who stood firm on the word of God, insisting the world is round.
I agree with the scriptures not to worship the heavenly beings, the “aliens”, whom the Bible warns are principalities of fallen, demonic, angelic beings who have the ability to appear in any form they choose in order to deceive man into worshiping the anti-Christ under a one-world religion.
Read the word and be blessed, not deceived,
Lisa
Ernest Gregoire says Comment posted on May 15th, 2008
I was unsuccessfull at witnessing to a couple of Roman Catholic people this week.
Is it any wonder that they are deceived with their own heirarchy putting out stuff like this?
“Those whom are the most easily deceived are the ones whom are already deceived. It takes very little effort to convince someone to continue down the road that they are familliar with.”
(E.Gregoire)