Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Vatican: "It is Possible To Believe in God and Aliens"

Source: Diario Clarin (Argentina)
Date: 05.14.08
http://www.clarin.com/diario/2008/05/14/sociedad/s-0335.htm


STATEMENTS MADE BY AN ARGENTINEAN JESUIT IN THE VATICAN
"It is possible to believe in God and aliens"
ROME - EFE.

Argentinean Jesuit Jose Gabriel Funes, director of the Vatican Astronomical Observatory, stated that it is possible to believe in God and in aliens. "The existence of other worlds and other life forms, some even more evolved than our own, can be admitted without questioning our faith in creation, in incarnation and redemption. It is possible to believe in both God and in aliens," said Funes, 45, in an interview with the Vatican's "L'Osservatore Romano".

The Argentinean said that the "Big Bang" theory is the one that best explains the origin of the world, to dte: "As an astronomer, I still believe that God is the creator of the universe and that we are not the product of chance, but the children of a loving father, who has a project of love in store for us."

Funes added that the universe is made up of 100 billion galaxies, each consisting of 100 billion stars and that many or nearly all of them may have planets.

"How can we reject [the possibility] that life may have developed elsewhere as well?" asks the Jesuit, who added: "Much like the multiplicity of creatures on Earth, there could be other beings, intelligent ones, created by God. This does not contradict our faith, because we cannot impose a limit on God's freedom to create." Paraphrasing St. Francis, the religious noted that aliens could also be referred to as our "brothers."

(translation (c) 2008, S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO)