by nate on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 | Knowledge, News, World | No Comments

Four hundred years after it locked up Galileo for challenging the view that the Earth was the center of the universe, the Vatican has called in experts to study the possibility of extraterrestrial alien life and its implication for the Catholic Church.

“As an astronomer I continue to believe that God is the creator of the universe,” Jose Gabriel Funes said in an interview with the Vatican mouthpiece, the Osservatore Romano

Asked about the difficult theological question, Funes said: “If other intelligent beings exist, it’s not certain that they need redemption.”

“How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere. 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”, said Funes adding that God created all the creatures of the universe, so believing that aliens exist doesn’t interfere with the faith in God.

“The church has somehow recognized its mistakes. Maybe it could have done it better, but now it’s time to heal those wounds and this can be done through calm dialogue and collaboration”, said Funes. The beginning of the reconciliation between church and science began in 1992 with Pope John Paul’s declaration saying that Galileo’s trial was a “tragic mutual incomprehension”.

The Vatican Observatory has also been at the forefront of efforts to bridge the gap between religion and science. Its scientist-clerics have generated top-notch research and its meteorite collection is considered one of the world’s best.

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Tags: alien, Catholicism, christianity, church, Is alien real, Jose Gabriel Funes, religion, religious view, the truth about vatican, UFO