Today’s Boston Globe reports the Vatican’s chief astronomer, Jose Gabriel Funes, instructs us that the Christian faith does not preclude belief in extra terrestrials. Funes asks us to broaden our minds: “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.” Smile on your extraterrestrial brother; you are his keeper and stewards, now, of the heavens and the earth. Also, as it is written in Leviticus 19:33, “When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him.”
Although I was surprised that the Vatican even has its own official astronomer, this newly revitalized debate about space aliens and the Christian faith raises another important theological question: Who would best be their patron saint? Perhaps Saint Francis of Assisi, for his love of all creation? Or because this part of God’s handiwork remains hidden to us, maybe it would be better to choose Saint Anthony of Padua, the patron saint of the missing and lost?
