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 today.
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 an interview with 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 Associated Press
Such a report leaves me speechless... and fires up my theological curiosity!
• What are the moral implications for relationships with creatures of God deemed human enough to be called "brother and sister" and yet estranged enough to be considered alien?
• Might such creatures challenge presumptions and prescriptions based on the natural law?
• In what ways have we "put limits on God's creative freedom" in how we rule over the pied beauty of "all things counter, original, spare, strange?"
-ConcordPastor
There are a couple of novels by Mary Doria Russell that explore this, too. _The Sparrow_ and its sequel _Children of God_. They are *not* lighthearted, but they're pretty powerful.
ReplyDeleteHer novel _A Thread of Grace_ is also an amazing book, set in Italy at the end of WWII.
There are so many questions to ponder. The discovery of ET's make me wonder how much they would be like us, physically, morally,ethically and psychologically. My guess is that they evolved differently perhaps because of environmental reasons. Would these beings look to us as brothers and sisters? How has God revealed himself to them? Do they have their own "version" of the Paschal Mystery or maybe salvation as we see it wasn't necessary there. Carl Sagan admitted to being an atheist because of these kinds of questions.
ReplyDeleteAnne
Sub-heading: Slippery Slope 101!
ReplyDeletePerhaps now the Vatican visionairies will reconsider some of what THEY have deemed alien here on what we consider God's green earth?
Yeah, I read something about that in The Boston Globe and thought that it opened a very wide window for us to view our place in the cosmos. The questions you pose are thought-provoking and it's too bad there isn't an answer key to lead us in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, I got a good chuckle when I saw the two different representations of human and celestial beings touching. Good choice! Do you suppose that's what the graphic designer intended when he made the E.T. poster?
I'd be amazed if the artist behind the ET image didn't intend to mimic Michaelangelo.
ReplyDelete