Vatican: It’s OK for Catholics to Believe in Aliens
There could be alien life forms and believing they exist isn’t contradictory to faith in God, the top astronomer at the Vatican said in an interview published Tuesday.
In the Vatican newspaper piece, titled “The Extraterrestrial Is My Brother,” the Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes said the expansiveness of the universe means there could be life on planets other than Earth.
“In my opinion this possibility exists,” Funes, the director of the Vatican Observatory, told L’Osservatore Romano. “Astronomers believe the universe is made up of 100 billion galaxies, each of which consists of 100 billion stars. … Life forms could exist in theory even without oxygen or hydrogen.”
Funes said that there might even be other intelligent life out there, but believing in its existence doesn’t pose a problem for those of the Catholic faith.
