For some bizarre and truly elusive reason, otherwise intelligent people are all abuzz recently about UFOs (now called UAPs, meaning Unidentified Arial Phenomena), aliens and the possibility of intelligent extraterrestrial life reaching our planet. Last night, Tucker Carlson mentioned a US government whistleblower who testified to the presence of actual extraterrestrial beings who have visited our planet during the first episode of his new Twitter-based program. Matt Walsh gave 15 minutes of discussion to the whistleblower on his program. The rise of discussion over the notion that this planet has been visited by intelligences from another world has inspired the need to discuss the matter from a theological perspective. Does the idea of other-worldly intelligent life even fit into the Christian cosmology?
When I was a kid, I used to love the idea of space exploration. I was a huge fan of science fiction and would dream of becoming an astronaut so I could travel the stars, discover new life and possibly encounter alien civilizations. I consumed a steady diet of tv shows like Star Trek, Buck Rogers, Lost in Space and read books and magazines about how technology would some day get us to distant planets.
For a time, this was all I thought about and I truly believed that within my lifetime, I just might have the opportunity to walk on Mars.
But in the back of my mind, there was always an itch that I couldn’t quite scratch. For one reason or another, it was always so difficult for me to reconcile the idea of space exploration and distant life with my faith. It started with questions about how I would practice my faith if I was off exploring the galaxy. How would I receive the Sacraments? How would I participate as a member of the Mystical Body of Christ? If I encountered intelligent alien life, what should I do? Should I evangelize? Could I? Would such alien life need baptism?
These questions led to a growing concern for me, ultimately leading me to conclude that the place we have in the universe is special to the point of being unique. There are no alien life forms. There are no alien civilizations. Beyond the confines of this blue, white, brown and green marble is nothing but rocks and lights. I’ve had many thoughts on this for a while, but what led me to this conclusion may surprise you.
In 2008, Catholic News Service interviewed the [then] Vatican’s Chief Astronomer, Jesuit Father Jose Fuentes, who surmised that it was possible that while man fell, other species on other planets did not. From the article:
“We who belong to the human race could really be that lost sheep, the sinners who need a pastor,” he said. “God became man in Jesus in order to save us. So if there are also other intelligent beings, it’s not a given that they need redemption. They might have remained in full friendship with their creator,” he said.
This hypothesis is not too dissimilar to C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy. The essential idea is that man was the species that fell, while other species on other planets passed the test of God, did not fall to temptation and sin, and remain in His perfect graces. And while this is an interesting and hopeful idea, there are several glaring problems with it. The first has to do with the creation and the nature of angels. The second has to do with the natural state of Original Justice. The third has to do with the nature of God’s relationship with man.
Now, before I begin, I want to make clear that these are my own thoughts on the matter, and I present them to you as a matter of speculation for the mere purpose of providing you a perspective you might not have heard before. I do not claim to be providing any authoritative proclamations on the matter, and I mean no disrespect to those who do believe in the existence of extraterrestrial life. This just happens to be a topic I find interesting, and increasingly pervasive throughout our culture.
The first concern has to do with the creation and nature of angels. According to Divine Revelation, God created the heavens and the earth, and all living things. This creation account speaks of living creatures on the earth and an incalculable number of creatures that are completely incorporeal. They have no material form, which means that they are invisible, intangible, and imperceptible unless they choose to interact with the material world. Catholic metaphysics teaches us that each angel is its own unique species, which means that angels do not participate in the act of creation as man does.
One third of the angels fell in the very beginning of time, when the most glorious of them all decided to reject God’s plan to become man. Lucifer, also called the serpent, the Father of Lies, the devil, and Satan. So, one third of the angels became demons to tempt men, while the other two thirds remained in Heaven and in a state of perfect, glorified happiness. And we only know about this because God revealed it to us.
If God would reveal to man that there is an incalculable number of unique, intelligent, incorporeal species, why would He not reveal that there were other unique, intelligent, material species outside of this planet as well? But there’s more.
According to some of the Mystics of the Church, Lucifer fell because God revealed His plan to become man. Blessed Mary of Agreda, in her Mystical City of God, said that it was because of the plan to create Mary, by whom He would become incarnate, that Lucifer rebelled. It was at this that Lucifer said, “I will become like the Most High,” to which Michael responded, “Who is like God?” This very brief and striking discourse reveals several things, the first is that the angels are NOT like God … but man is. The second is that Lucifer cannot become that which he is not. And to where did Lucifer fall? Into Hell, which, according to Scripture, is in the center of the Earth. In the Book of Numbers, chapter 16, we hear of the rebellion of Core, Dathan, and Abiron, who rose against Moses. The consequence of this rebellion is stated in verses 32-33:
“the earth broke asunder under their feet: And opening her mouth, devoured them with their tents and all their substance. And they went down alive into hell the ground closing upon them, and they perished from among the people.”
If there were other planets with other intelligent beings, why would the place of punishment for the rebelling angels be in the center of our planet?
The second concern I have with Fr. Fuentes’ hypothesis has to do with the state of original justice. When God created the universe, Scripture tells us that everything was “good.” There was no discord in the physical universe, and everything was in a state of perfect harmony. But the sin of Adam disrupted the harmony of the universe by introducing sin and death. As the Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen put it, it was as if a sour note played in the midst of a symphony rang out into the universe, spoiling the entire piece. Through Adam’s sin, man lost all of his preternatural gifts, and nature itself became chaotic. Our Lord cursed Adam with having to toil for food, rather than having it supplied to him. Thistles, thorns, and brambles would be produced by the earth. Weeds now invade garden beds. Predators eat our livestock, and sometimes, even us. Nature itself is arrayed against man because of the sin of Adam. If this is the case for earth, it would be the same for any and all life on other planets.
In short, for there to be life on other planets, the sour note of Adam’s sin would reach them as well and be an inexcusable injustice.
This leads to the third objection I have to the Space Trilogy hypothesis. God’s relationship with man is unique in all of creation. Proverbs 8: 26-31 explains that God’s unique relationship with man was prepared and planned before the work of Creation even began:
“He had not yet made the earth, nor the rivers, nor the poles of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was present: when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the depths: When he established the sky above, and poised the fountains of waters: When he compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits: when he balanced the foundations of the earth; I was with him forming all things: and was delighted every day, playing before him at all times; Playing in the world: and my delights were to be with the children of men.”
The entire universe was created for Christ. Nothing that exists was created for any other reason. The angels minister to Him, and He became man. He was born of a pure virgin, grew under the fatherhood of a man, and died a terrible death at the hands of sinners. He created this earth for Himself, and all that is in it. Where, in any of this, would extraterrestrial life fit in? How would extraterrestrial life worship Christ if He became man, lived, died, was buried, and rose again on earth and nowhere else? How would extraterrestrial life be capable of adoring Christ as the angels and wise men did, at the manger on the day of His birth, or mourn His death on the Cross?
The very notion of intelligent extraterrestrial life has no place in our understanding of God’s relationship with the angels and with man.
So, why is there so much speculation on this question of extraterrestrial life in the Church?
In 2012, a Vatican-sponsored event discussed the possibility of extraterrestrial life.
In 2014, Religion News Service interviewed another Vatican astronomer, Brother Guy Consolmagno, who wrote a book titled, Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial?
Also in 2014, Pope Francis joked that if an alien from outer space approached him and said it wished to be baptized, he would not turn the alien away. The problem with this, of course, is that baptism is for man alone, because it is the act of washing away the stain of original sin. We don’t baptize animals, and you can’t baptize an angel. Only man is baptized because only the descendants of Adam and Eve have the burden of original sin.
In 2017, Crux speculated on how the Catholic Church would handle extraterrestrial life, should it ever be encountered. In the article is a blasphemous image of a large-eyed alien standing in line to receive Communion.
In 2019, the heretical National Catholic Reporter published an article about Catholics who believe in extraterrestrial life. And in October of 2020, the Society of Catholic Scientists hosted a lecture on extraterrestrial life.
As fun and as fascinating a discussion as all of this has become, I have to wonder why this is something that is being seriously discussed in Catholic circles. And I think the answer has directly to do with the question of salvation itself.
For nearly 100 years, one of the most hotly debated topics is whether or not there is salvation outside the Church. For nearly seven years, Pope Francis has been at the center of controversy as questionable interviews quote him as indicating that atheists do not need to believe in God to be saved. He is even on record telling a young boy that his deceased father, who was an atheist, could be saved just because he was a decent person.
Now, while it is possible for someone to have a moment of true conversion at any moment, the fact yet remains that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church. So, here’s what occurred to me. The Earth was created to sustain life for man in order to provide a testing ground for man’s salvation. When God sent a flood, He instructed Noah to build an Ark, and all who were outside of it, died. There was no life outside the Ark. By extension, there is no life outside the earth. And if there was, it would immediately call into question whether or not there is true life outside the Church Herself.
What this article did is make me realize just how close man is to God, or rather how close God is to man. Just how much we are special to Him, how He delights in us as His beloved children. Oh to have the innocence of a child in our relationship with Him! Thank you, Michael.
“The Earth was created to sustain life for man in order to provide a testing ground for man’s salvation.”
That’s not what the Catholic Church teaches. I’m not sure where this pagan mythology crept into your theology but it is 100% not Catholic.
It is always best to start with what the Church teaches and after quoting from Mater et Magistra only then offering your own conjecture, lest you fall into your own belief system. Here is what the Catholic Church teaches:
“The glory of God consists in the realization of this manifestation and communication of his goodness, for which the world was created. God made us “to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace”, for “the glory of God is man fully alive; moreover man’s life is the vision of God: if God’s revelation through creation has already obtained life for all the beings that dwell on earth, how much more will the Word’s manifestation of the Father obtain life for those who see God.” The ultimate purpose of creation is that God “who is the creator of all things may at last become “all in all”, thus simultaneously assuring his own glory and our beatitude.”
So the world was created to as a manifestation of God’s goodness. It is not a some adverserial “testing ground”. This kind of perverted understanding will lead you, as it clearly has, into a strange anthropoexclusivistic understanding of creation that is not born out by Catholic Teaching.
Hi Paul,
Thank you for your comment. You are correct in stating the Catechism’s paragraph 294, and indeed the earth was created for God’s glory and our beatitude. But please note, what I wrote about the earth being created to “sustain life for man in order to provide a testing ground for man’s salvation” is not in conflict with this. The earth was indeed created in such a manner as to sustain life (specifically, human life), and we also know that we are tested here on earth, in this life. What I wrote may be overly simplified, but it does not contradict Catholic teaching at all.
I really enjoyed your essay. Very well done. Interesting introduction from your childhood (your interest in space science parallels mine), summary of prior thought on aliens, your well-reasoned arguments against alien life, finishing with references to other writings on the topic. Very well done.
While it’s fun to imagine aliens visiting earth (and I don’t mean bacteria from underground oceans on Europa), a serious assessment concludes it’s not possible. From a scientific standpoint, the stars are too far away. From a Catholic standpoint, there is only one Jesus Christ, and we can’t be adding aliens as being saved by His sacrifice (a point you make).
There is something more in all of these alien stories though — the aliens as Messiah. The aliens will arrive and save mankind with their advanced knowledge and technology. There is even talk of the aliens not revealing themselves until humanity behaves better (i.e., repents) — believers of this are like Linus trying to be sincere to bring forth the Great Pumpkin. I could go on.
I’m not a Catholic, but I’m a devout Evangelical Christian. There are probably 100 billion to 10 trillion galaxies in the universe. That’s 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars. We now know that almost all stars have planets. IMO the idea that we are alone in the universe is absurd. Everyone used to think the sun revolved around the earth. IMO thinking life revolves around the earth is just as absurd. Jesus came to humans to save humans. Period. He didn’t come to earth to save anyone else and we should not be threatened that we are not alone.
You are right about the unbelievable number of galaxies and stars.
Even if all the stars in the universe had planets, which undoubtedly many, if not all have, the chances of ‘intelligent’ life developing on any one of them is astronomically low. This is because of fine tuning of the earth for life. There are over 100 identified parameters that have to be exquisitely tuned for life to develop on earth. If only one of them was off by a few trillionths, then
life would not exist. Check it out: “Fine Tuning of the Universe” . Amazing!
One scientist, who I believe converted to Christianity, had said: It looks like Someone had been tinkering with the dials”.
You wonder though, was the vast size of the universe necessary? What could be its purpose? If God wanted more souls, did that really require trillions of galaxies? Seems inefficient! Why not just make a 2nd “Earth” as near as Alpha Centauri or something? Or thousands of Earths in the Milky Way alone?
And you have Psalm 18 – The heavens show forth the glory of God…so of course you’d expect a massive and beautiful universe, even if with no other intel life.
Then you have Rev 21 – God’s dwelling is with the HUMAN race…
To say nothing of the 13.7 billion years age of the universe – what in the heck was happening before man “arrived” on Earth a short while ago? Couldn’t ya have gotten many more souls if man had been in existence for, say, 2 billion years, skip the whole dinosaur phase…..?
We really have no idea what these UFOs represent.
I read that we have optics able to read a license plate from outer space. Yet, as you indicate, the only images the public is shown are never clear. I’m betting our Govt. has sharp images that are confidential and are not being released.
We’ll never really know unless the Govt. releases what they know or if one lands.
IF (real big if) extraterrestrials exist at all they were redeemed on this earth 2000 yearago by Jesus. At least that’s what the church of Christ taught back before an anti-pope squatted on Peter’s throne. Also, ever wonder why the deep state can watch us from space but never get clear images on this topic? Strange
We really have no idea what these UFOs represent.
I read that we have optics able to read a license plate from outer space. Yet, as you indicate, the only images the public is shown are never clear. I’m betting our Govt. has sharp images that are confidential and are not being released.
We’ll never really know unless the Govt. releases what they know or if one lands.
There are strong astronomical evidences of an earth at the center of the universe (eg CBM radiation, GRBs, redshift distortion, etc.). Therefore, every story about the existence of extraterrestrial intelligent beings ends here, period.
Great article Mr. Hitchborn! Can you please explain to me what are the catholic- alien believers idea on how these supposed beings would be saved? All of this is like a pseudo intellectual conversation and requires you to do much jumps… God made man in the Image of God and by definition a man is descended from Adam and Eve. If there are rational intelligent men on other planets that are made in the Image of God, how could that really be because all men have to descend from Adam. To say there are hypothetical men on other planets is wrong. This notion that Jesus would incarnate Himself to their planets with the same nature (since these supposed beings have our nature) is still wrong because Christs Incarnation happened only once. And to say that Jesus would go an Incarnate Himself a second time is ridiculous. Because then these catholic-alien believers are saying that Jesus incarnated twice and that is okay. What do you think about that conjecture?
On the flip side catholic- alien believers think that Jesus could have other natures, which is pure blasphemy. Stating that Jesus could take on Planet X nature to redeem Planet X. Thinkers like Paul Thigpen state things like that. What do you think of that?
And to state that Jesus would have incarnated Himself more than one and die for each race more than once is utterly nonsensical and does not fit in the Bible and basically heretical.
Thank you Mr. Hitchborn!
Amen. Satan is known as The “Prince of the power of the air”, up to the third heaven. The UFO’s could be another of his manifestations, consider all the negative experiences there have been with abductions,probes, hideous creatures, etc..Carl Sagen . and those like him left God out of discussions about the universe, Many scientists and skeptics love the UFO’s and don’believe in God,. Another way of taking Mans eyes off God
I once saw one of those, after watching it for about ten minutes while driving in my motor home. It got so close I stopped the motor home and it passed me making no noise. It was not like the description you see in photos or read about. When I mentioned this to a friend who no longer practices the faith and is a devoted follower of a UFO theorist and author, whom I consider a complete fake and fraud, he conveniently forgot that I am one of those persons who has seen such a thing, and not just that one time. Since I do not care what the thing was that I watched, nor does it matter to my faith whatsoever, I have a conjecture of why people make UFOs into something important, a kind of substitute for practice and study of the faith. It is the same sort of reason that Pontius Pilate gave for denying Christ, and this position, as Bishop Sheen points out, was a moral one, not an intellectual one. I would submit to you that all practicing atheists, and those who believe in a kind of subsitute religion which has supplanted what Christian practices they once valued, whether it be UFOs, Darwinism, Freud, Secrets of the Pyramids, other obscuranti, are merely following something they consider to be on a par with what they once valued in Christian worship but which demanded something from them. They did not find that Christianity had been tried and found lacking, they had tried Christianity and found it demanding, so they abandoned it for something that gave them a feeling of being unique, special, but without confronting the issues that conscience, truth, would demand of them. They kept their attachments to that which they valued more than Christ, same as Pontius Pilate. If you were to ask me, as a practicing Catholic, what do I think about UFOs having witnessed at least one for a span of about ten minutes, I would tell you, it has no importance whatsoever. But it doesn’t make me as stupid as people who leave the Church as I would not supplant that which has no eternal consequences to my soul for that which would. And it doesn’t make me special. I can feel special by finding an iridescent beetle, or seeing a bolide. What gets me about people who leave the faith because they say they saw a UFO, is why. I saw a bolide the split second if that much after I asked God to send me a meteor. I do not need to see more or any UFOs nor do I care to know what they are or were. They have no consequences to my eternal soul. Why deny Christ for a point of trivia? UFOs are trivia. They are just more of what stupid people who have denied the faith crave after. In the end, you will never be judged by anything as trivial or stupid as climate change, UFOs, Darwinism, Freud, Secrets of the Pyramids, the Illuminati, or your denial of their reputed powers and Satan’s many mischief makers. Don’t embrace stupidity in whatever its form. Even when you see it or hear it with your own eyes and ears as I have.
This. I was one of those stupid people but thanks be to God I am no longer looking to those things that require my faith but demand nothing of me.