Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens
VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Vatican's chief astronomer says that believing in aliens does not contradict faith in God. The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, says that the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones. In an interview published Tuesday by Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes says that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures. The interview was headlined "The extraterrestrial is my brother." Funes said that ruling out the existence of aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's creative freedom.
This gem comes to us straight from the "And you thought I just make this $#!& up" department. Yes, that's right, the Catholic Church may consider sex outside of marriage and abortions to be mortal sins, but aliens? Well, they just another source of converts for the Church, no? And if an Almighty, Benevolent God can create us...why not space aliens? I mean, if God created Heaven and Earth, wouldn't it rather arrogant of us to seriously believe that he created only Heaven and THIS Earth? Given the unknowable and infinite vastness of space, perhaps there are infinite numbers of alien Pat Robertsons and John Hagees.
And if that doesn't put you off believing in extraterrestrials...well, I don't know what will. All of a sudden the difference between the Catholic Church and the Church of Scientology seems so slight as to be almost imperceptible
