“The Extraterrestrial is My Brother”
So says the Vatican in 2008
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It sounds a lot sexier in Italian.
So, what’s all the hubbub about UFOs and the US government of late?
One of the many curiosities packed into the $2.3 billion omnibus spending and coronavirus-relief package passed by Congress in December was a stipulation requiring the Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to deliver an unclassified report on unidentified flying objects to Congress within six months, compiling what the government knows about about UFOs rocketing around over American airspace.
The report — which comes after a slow, four-year drip of reporting and government admissions on UFO sightings — could be delivered to Congress as early as June 1.-New York Magazine, Intelligencer section.
Now all things UFO/UAP/USO/ET/alien etc. is cool. If that’s the case then I’ve been cool since the 1970s. Maybe it’s my ancestors’ blood as native Americans have always believed in “the sky people” and have passed down stories through the generations as well as written stories in picture form on walls across the US.
But now Rome is getting in on the act too? Not exactly. They issued a statement 13 years ago in 2008.
Vatican scientist says belief in God and aliens is OK
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) — The Vatican’s chief astronomer says there is no conflict between believing in God and in the possibility of “extraterrestrial brothers” perhaps more evolved than humans.
“In my opinion this possibility (of life on other planets) exists,” said Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, a 45-year-old Jesuit priest who is head of the Vatican Observatory and a scientific adviser to Pope Benedict.
In the interview headlined “The extraterrestrial is my brother,” he said he saw no conflict between belief in such beings and faith in God.
“Just as there is a multiplicity of creatures on earth, there can be other beings, even intelligent, created by God. This is not in contrast with our faith because we can’t put limits on God’s creative freedom,” he said.
Rev. Funes would have been executed in the 17th century for having thought let alone stated that, “dialogue between faith and science could be improved if scientists learned more about the Bible and the Church kept more up to date with scientific progress.”
Religion and science break bread together? #iwish
I don’t see why the two are so opposed to embrace one another. When you step back and look at it, they actually agree on a lot. They just differ on terms.
What are angels but extraterrestrials? Oxford Languages defines ETs as:
ex·tra·ter·res·tri·al
/ˌekstrətəˈrestrēəl/
adjective
- of or from outside the earth or its atmosphere. (“searches for extraterrestrial intelligence”)
Now in that light, can you see where Rev. Funes is coming from? I think we simply need a religion-to-science translator and the rev may just be the man for the job.
To read more about the Vatican’s statement
To read more about Rev. José Gabriel Funes
