Aliens are (God’s) people, too

Posted by: Gary Stern - Posted in Belief in aliens, Rev. George Coyne, Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, Vatican Observatory on May 13, 2008

When the last head of the Vatican Observatory, Father George Coyne, was removed from the job in 2006, it was said that he was a little too enthusiastic about supporting the theory of evolution.

Now his successor is making news:

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.