Ufo’s, Extraterrestrials And The Catholic Church

[Socrates]

[quote name='T-Bone _' post='1744340' date='Jan 6 2009, 12:25 PM']These are the people with all the photos of the "Orbs of Doom" or whatever they're called, right?[/quote]
Actually, they're called "Balls of Redemption" (and look suspiciously like fingers over the lense, or over-exposed film)


". . . they're such big balls, dirty big balls, and he's got big balls, and she's got big balls, but we got the biggest balls of them all!"

"Holy Balls of Redemption, Batman!"

[Norseman82]

In my best "Waterboy" voice:

BUT MOMMA SAYS DOCTOR WHO IS OF DA DEBBIL!

[Guest]

[quote name='Socrates' post='1744858' date='Jan 6 2009, 11:46 PM']Actually, they're called "Balls of Redemption" (and look suspiciously like fingers over the lense, or over-exposed film)


". . . they're such big balls, dirty big balls, and he's got big balls, and she's got big balls, but we got the biggest balls of them all!"

"Holy Balls of Redemption, Batman!"[/quote]


[quote name='Norseman82' post='1745076' date='Jan 7 2009, 03:23 AM']In my best "Waterboy" voice:

BUT MOMMA SAYS DOCTOR WHO IS OF DA DEBBIL![/quote]


[ x ] funny

Edited January 7, 2009 by Guest

[Mr_Private_Person]

I hear Santa Claus is an alien.

I have pictures

[img]http://www.ararat-productions.com/3D/Alien_Santa.jpg[/img]

He uses sensors to see if you're naughty in the bathroom!

The Flying Speghetti Monster told me so.

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster_2.jpg[/img]

Edited January 8, 2009 by Mr_Private_Person

[Guest]

mr. private person
are you a demon ?
serious question.

Edited January 8, 2009 by Guest

[HisChildForever]

[quote name='Delivery Boy' post='1746410' date='Jan 8 2009, 05:49 PM']mr. private person
are you a demon ?
serious question.[/quote]

ROFLLLLL.

[Guest]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' post='1744322' date='Jan 6 2009, 10:44 AM']That bit about aliens as demons is extremely interesting! Thanks for posting.[/quote]

no problem !
i think were in a time where satan is about to show himself.
jesus said there would be great signs in the heavens.
satan will come and fool the world into believing he is christ.
and he will have signs galore to proove to them he is the one.
him ariving in a "ufo" from a "distant place in the universe" will be a good way to start it all off.

Edited January 8, 2009 by Guest

[lilac_angel]

[quote name='Mr_Private_Person' post='1745605' date='Jan 7 2009, 10:48 PM']I hear Santa Claus is an alien.

I have pictures

He uses sensors to see if you're naughty in the bathroom!

The Flying Speghetti Monster told me so.[/quote]


Your avatar reminds me so much of someone I know.

Edited January 8, 2009 by lilac_angel

[Guest]

“The Lord certainly did not limit His glory to this small Earth. On other planets other beings exist who did not sin and fall as we did."
- St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1968), canonized June 16, 2002

[Guest]

[url="http://www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc814.htm"]http://www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc814.htm[/url]

Summary: Msgr. Balducci is one of the best-known and most respected Italian theologians. We publish his paper for the first time in an English translation. It is indeed noteworthy, since it is the very first detailed statement of a senior Roman Catholic theologian and Curia member on the UFO phenomenon. More than that, it demonstrates the openness of the Roman Catholic church in this question and can be considered the first ever complex positive statement regarding the UFO/ET reality from the point of view of a major world religion - with its over 1 Billion faithful, the RC Church is indeed the largest religious community on Earth.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monsignor Corrado Balducci
author's bio



“The Lord certainly did not limit His glory to this small Earth. On other planets other beings exist who did not sin and fall as we did."
- St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1968), canonized June 16, 2002

Msgr. Balducci is one of the best-known and most respected Italian theologians. The Roman priest and Curia member served the Holy See as a diplomat and member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples ("Propaganda Fide"). He is an expert on demonology and parapsychology, was for several years the exorcist of the diocese of Rome, the Pope’s diocese. Msgr. Balducci wrote several books, including the bestseller "Il Diavolo" (the Devil) which reached 14 print runs in the hardcover edition. Furthermore he is a regular guest in the Italian State TV (Rai Due), where he made several statements on the UFO phenomenon since 1995. He spoke on the UFO congresses in Acapulco and San Marino. We publish his paper for the first time in an English translation. It is indeed noteworthy, since it is the very first detailed statement of a senior Roman Catholic theologian and Curia member on the UFO phenomenon. More than that, it demonstrates the openness of the Roman Catholic church in this question and can be considered the first ever complex positive statement regarding the UFO/ET reality from the point of view of a major world religion - with its over 1 Billion faithful, the RC Church is indeed the largest religious community on Earth. Note that since the first Balducci-statement also H.H., the Dalai Lama (for Tibetan Buddhism), several Jewish rabbis in Israel and, in 2001, the Muslim authorities of Turkey followed with positive statements on this subject. Therefore it can be said that UFOs are not only “no problem” for the largest Christian church, but also for other world religions.

Please note:

-I use the acronym UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) in the wider sense as a synonym for the existence of extraterrestrial beings;
-I participate in this debate under the premise that the described UFO phenomena are real. This is not in contradiction to the Christian Faith, a position to which most theologians would agree.

I. UFOs: THERE MUST BE SOMETHING TRUE ABOUT THEM - everybody must come to this conclusion who approaches the question of extraterrestrial life with similar individual, social and religious structures as we developed them, with reason and common sense.
There is a great and constantly growing number of eyewitness testimony about the so-called "flying saucers", spacecraft and Extraterrestrials. Many of these eyewitnesses are highly qualified observers with a profound education, who did not believe in them before they had their personal encounter. On November 4, 1988, Mrs. Fioschini, TV host of the program "Misteri" on RAI Due, stated: "There are thousands of persons in all the world who claim that they saw a UFO at least once, and many even claim a contact with their crews." On this base it can no longer be denied that there is indeed something true about them. Any scepticism would be completely unjustified und unreasonable! Of course some eyewitness reports are based on imagination, hallucination or external influence. In other instances they were caused by atmospheric phenomena, lenticular clouds or ball lightning. Again others turned out to be state-of-the-art aircraft types of the Americans and Russians, tested during the Cold War. Already during World War II, sighted UFOs were thought to be the secret weapon of the enemy. But all this is not enough to explain a great part of the eyewitness testimony and the UFO phenomenon itself. Even the most careful investigation can only reduce the number of real cases and sift the chaff from the wheat, but can never explain them all satisfactorily, as the past has taught us.

In many countries professional or semi-professional organizations investigate UFO sightings in cooperation with scientists and experts to separate explainable from unidentifiable cases. In France there is the governmental SEPRA, in Italy the "National Ufological Center" CUN, which exists for nearly 40 years and is headed by Dr. Roberto Pinotti, or, since 5 years, the CIFAS (Council of International Federation of Advanced Studies), founded by Airforce General Salvatore Marcheletti, which investigates the position of man in space.

Let me add one more important point: The general a priori-scepticism, the systematic, total denial, damages, even destroys the basic value of the human testimony with grave and incalculable consequences, since it is indeed the fundament of human society, if individual, social or religious. Of course there is always one or the other exemption, there are errors and lies, but generally all our life is based on what we learned from others. It is unthinkable to live without this basic confidence, unimaginable are the consequences of a general negation of the human experience on the individual, social and religious life. It would destroy the very fundament of any human society!

This applies to the religious life, too. Indeed the Christian religion is based on the testimony of humans who became witnesses of God´s revelation in historical events. In 1937, the theologian and Jesuit Father Herbert Thurston stated: "On one point of the logic view the Christian accepts the miracle reports of the Gospels ... our complete apologetic concept bases on the trust in the veracity of the Gospels." (La Chiesa e lo Spiritismo, Milano 1937, o.179). Therefore is "the systematic demolition and defamation of the human testimony, the simple reduction on dates and facts, contradictory to our Faith in the historicity of the Gospels and therefore indirectly to the faith in the Christian revelation." (p. 157)

II. THEOLOGICAL AND BIBLICAL REMARKS ABOUT THE INHABITABILITY OF OTHER PLANETS

Let me state very clearly: We can exclude that angels use spaceships. As purely spiritual beings, angels can project themselves at any place they want to reach and, in rare instances, when they want to reveal themselves, take a visible form without any difficulty. The same is certain for the defunct. When the Holy Virgin wants to reveal Herself to Mankind (as it happened in rare, well-documented cases) she chose forms in which She can express Her love and care as a mother and Her motherly compassion with us. We don´t even have to waste a thought on the devil and his demons, who still kept their angelic nature, being fallen angels and therefore also purely spiritual beings, since they are limited in their activity by God and therefore not able to bring all their hatred to us. "If the devil would take the initiative, not a single living being would remain on Earth", St. Augustine wrote. (ML37, 1246). St. Bonaventura added: "The cruelty of the demon is so immense that he could swallow us any moment, if we were not under divine protection." ("Diaeta ssalutis", tit.7,c.1, Verona 1748, S.183)

When we talk about "Extraterrestrials", we refer to humanoid beings which are, like us, of both, a spiritual and a material nature, a physical body (for which to move they indeed need spacecraft), although in their case the relationship between mind and matter might be a different one than in our case. For this, we do not have scientific evidence yet, although we are approaching this question slowly thanks to an increasing number of careful studies and research. In regards to the biblical and theological aspect of this question, let me state:

1. It is very well possible that other inhabited planets exist. We do not find any direct reference to extraterrestrial life in the Bible, but it neither excludes their existence. Since God's wisdom and omnipotence has no limits and is infinite indeed, this possibility doubtlessly exists.

2. The existence of other inhabited planets is highly probable. The distance between the angels, purely spiritual beings, and us, beings of spirit and matter, body and soul is too large. Our soul cannot act without the body, its unalterable means, which through its passions and sinfulness influences the soul so deeply that man becomes unstable and rather tends toward the bad than towards the good.
Therefore it is highly probable that in between, between us and the angels, another life form exists, namely beings which still have a physical body but one which is more perfect than ours and influences the soul less in its intelligent acts and intentions. This assumption is confirmed by the ancient principle defined by Lucrezio Caro as "Natura non favit saltus" (The Nature makes no jumps, see "De rerum natura"), still quoted by theologians.

We find another thought regarding the infinity of the creation and the Glory of God in Psalm 18 (19): "The heavens declare the glory of God". Only man can consciously worship God, because of his free will and intelligence. Therefore several theologians consider it not only possible but very probable that out there in Space, unreachable for our scientific instruments, other beings exist who recognize and venerate God since they realized this as the reason and meaning of their world and the creation itself.

The Jesuit Father P. Domenico Grasso, a theologian of the Pontifical University "Gregoriana" in Rome, stated: "Why should all the perfection, God gave so richly to the Universe, be hidden and should not declare His glory? Who writes a book and is sure that it will never be read? Who paints a painting and hides it thereafter, and nobody can see it?". Then he quotes the German theologian Joseph Pohle, who wrote in his book of 1904 ("Die Sternenwelt und ihre Bewohner" - "The celestial realms and their inhabitants", Cologne 1904, p. 457): "It seems to be the purpose of the Universe that the celestial bodies are inhabited by beings who reflect the glory of God in the beauty of their bodies and worlds as man does, in a limited way, in his world." But they are no angels, Father Grasso added, since angels are purely spiritual beings and can perceive matter only indirectly, just as we can only indirectly perceive the world of the spirit.

3.The inhabitability of other planets is not only possible and probable, but also desirable. In the future, even in a far-distant-one, their possible inhabitants, if they are indeed superior to us, can help and support us in our spiritual development. In this way, which we cannot prove, they might have helped and protected us already in the past.
If indeed intelligent beings exist on other planets, their existence might very well be correlated with the Salvation through Christ. It is certain that Christ is the center and head of the creation or universe, as St. Paul already stated (Col. 1, 16-17). Therefore there exists no world which is not related to Him. As the Word Incarnate, He has, as the Bible confirms, an influence on every possible inhabited planet. To quote the Apostle: "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on Earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things and in Him all things consist... For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell. And by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross." (Col. 1, 16-20

The Church celebrates the last Sunday of the Liturgical Year (in November) as the Feast of Christ the King, and in its liturgy Christ is clearly defined as the king of the Universe, remembering the universality of His kingdom, which is also expressed in the daily Mass.

III. SOME CONFIRMING STATEMENTS

There exist several interesting statements on the inhabitability of other worlds by lay scientists, theologians or servants of God which already qualified for a process of beatification or canonization. Beginning with the laymen, let me quote the great French scientist Charles Richter (1850-1935), the founder of Metapsychics (today called Parapsychology). He was a materialist. In 1922, in his "Traite de Metapsychique", he stated: "Do we have any right to claim, just because of our limited senses and our mistaken intelligence, that man is the only intelligent being in this immense cosmos? ... That other intelligences, different from us, exist, is not only possible but extremely probable. It is absurd to claim that we are the only intelligence in nature... the existence of these beings cannot be proven, but the probability of their existence is evident."

Among the theologians I want to refer to, are:

1. Cardinal Nikolaus Cusanus (1401-1464). He stated: "We are not authorized to exclude that on another star beings exist which are completely different from us."
2. The Jesuit Father and astronomer Fr. Angelo Secchi (1818-1876) wrote: "It is absurd to claim that the worlds surrounding us are large, uninhabited worlds and that the meaning of the universe lies just in our small, inhabited planet."
3. The famous Dominican preacher Jacques-Marie-Louis Monsabre (1827-1907) referred to the principle "Natura non facit saltus" when he claimed that other intelligent beings besides men and angels exist.
4. The already quoted English Jesuit Father Herbert Thurston wrote: "Who can claim that there are no other intelligent beings besides angels, demons and men in the Universe? I do not intend to confirm the possibility I indicated in my question as a fact, but I ask: Who can be sure about it."

Of the servants of God either qualified for a beatification or just canonized, I only want to refer:

1. The Salesian Father and Servant of God Don Andrea Beltrami (1870-1897) who prayed also for the inhabitants of other planets. Of the 16 booklets he wrote, one is said to deal with this topic; unfortunately they were not published yet by the Father Postulator of his cause.
2. The second, with whom I want to close this paper, is the great stigmatized Capucchin Padre Pio, who was beatified by Pope John Paul II on May 2, 1999 and canonized on June 16, 2002. From St. Fr. Pio, the following dialogue is documented and officially published by the Cappuchin Order:
Question: Padre, some claim that there are creatures of God on other planets, too.
Answer: "What else? Do you think they don’t exist and that God's omnipotence is limited to this small planet Earth? What else? Do you think there are no other beings who love the Lord?"
Question: Padre, I think the Earth is nothing compared to other planets and stars.
Answer: "Exactly! Yes, and we Earthlings are nothing, too. The Lord certainly did not limit His glory to this small Earth. On other planets other beings exist who did not sin and fall as we did."
(Don Nello Castello: Cosi parlo P.Pio, Vicenza 1974)


Interesting link:
Vatican Astronomer Fr. George Coyne, S.J.: “It is madness to believe man is alone”

www.rense.com/general18/believe.htm


Question: “Holy Father, are there any aliens?”
Answer: “Always remember: They are children of God as we are…”

H.H. Pope John Paul II. when asked by a child during his visit to the parish of “S. Innocenzo I. Papa e S. Guido Vescovo” in the north of Rome, November 28, 1999.

Text © 1999/2002 by Msgr. Corrado Balducci, Rome
Translation © 2002 by Michael Hesemann

[cmotherofpirl]

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE / Hamlet Act 1. Scene V abt. 1601



If you look at the pictures from Hubble etc, do ya really think God made ALL of this just for us?
[url="http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html"]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html[/url]

We have been on Thulcandra and prisoners of the Bent One for a long time...

[Saint Therese]

I don't have a problem with thinking that God made "all of that" just for us, since He was willing to die for us. That must indicate that our value and worth is pretty high to the good Lord.
I posted a thread on here some time ago about this. Some speculate that so called abduction experiences are experiences of the demonic. Even if they aren't, what these people relate is truly evil: physical violation and torture, sexual violation and torture, etc.

Edited March 11, 2009 by Saint Therese

[cmotherofpirl]

[quote name='Saint Therese' post='1803442' date='Mar 11 2009, 02:36 AM']I don't have a problem with thinking that God made "all of that" just for us, since He was willing to die for us.[/quote]
However he could have made others that didn't bite the apple, and screw up things for their whole race.

[Guest]

[quote name='Saint Therese' post='1803442' date='Mar 11 2009, 12:36 AM']Some speculate that so called abduction experiences are experiences of the demonic. Even if they aren't, what these people relate is truly evil: physical violation and torture, sexual violation and torture, etc.[/quote]


Marks of the Demonic


So what leads me to believe these beings and their phenomena are demonic in origin? Well, it is because they have very similar signatures to that of known demonic earthly activity.



Demonic activity almost always follows a certain pattern. There are certain signs by which one can discern whether or not a demon is involved. Some of these signs are as follows: Strange noises; such as rappings, scratchings, poundings and even the sounds of tumult; the movement of objects (especially large objects) with no possible natural cause (this is called Infestation); a sense of oppression and violent temptations (this is called Oppression); overwhelming terror producing an animal-like fear and panic; production of sudden unexplained storms, earthquakes and temptests; the disappearance of things without any natural explanation; the presence of apparitions, ghosts, and apparently solid creatures intent on frightening those to whom they appear; physical attacks upon a person causing them pain and harm (this is called Obsession); the appearance of disease and pestilence without any medical or scientific explanation, (these diseases are usually very hard to cure or eliminate through medical remedies); acts of violence and evil perpetrated by an individual human or group of individuals that go beyond the natural evils that humans do to one another; finally, the most terrible manifestation of the demonic is found in their ability to enter and inhabit an individual's body (this is called Possession).



Now it must be noted that the reason for demonic attacks upon human beings are three fold: First, to distract our minds from God and the salvation of our own souls by turning us to focus on them and their activity: Second, to create a sense of terror, panic, emotional distress, and finally despair in the love and goodness of God: Third, to beaver dam the soul of the one possessed and to influence toward damnation those around them. In cases of possession there can be a fourth reason and that is to attack the priest who will be called in to exorcise the demon.

[Guest]

If aliens do exist perhaps there are evil and good just like the angels.
I dont think they are green tiny men if they exist either.
I wouldnt be suprised if they were in human form.
Perhaps already here without us even knowing it.
Mabey with their hands on freemasonry.
Just saw a special on freemasonry on ewtn the other night.
Scary stuff.

Edited March 11, 2009 by Guest

[Guest]

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waB3K_DbwW4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waB3K_DbwW4[/url]

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='Delivery Boy' post='1801248' date='Mar 9 2009, 08:20 AM']“The Lord certainly did not limit His glory to this small Earth. On other planets other beings exist who did not sin and fall as we did."
- St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1968), canonized June 16, 2002[/quote]

Interesting quote... got a context or at least a date for it?

Wouldn't it be interesting, considering all the sci-fi stories we've created about hostile aliens coming here to destroy us and consume our natural resources, if whenever we finally came face-to-face with an alien race and discovered them to be holier than even our greatest saints... that we couldn't stand them and became the hostiles against them?

Maybe that's why they're forever remain relegated to obscure 3am accounts in the New Mexico desert...

[cmotherofpirl]

Have you read C.S.Lewis's Space Trilogy?

[Guest]

[quote name='LouisvilleFan' post='1803621' date='Mar 11 2009, 08:58 AM']Interesting quote... got a context or at least a date for it?

Wouldn't it be interesting, considering all the sci-fi stories we've created about hostile aliens coming here to destroy us and consume our natural resources, if whenever we finally came face-to-face with an alien race and discovered them to be holier than even our greatest saints... that we couldn't stand them and became the hostiles against them?

Maybe that's why they're forever remain relegated to obscure 3am accounts in the New Mexico desert...[/quote]

no i dont i'll try to find...

and that is a very interesting theory....

[Guest]

[url="http://www.marlana.org/articles/ufo-support.htm"]http://www.marlana.org/articles/ufo-support.htm[/url]


Friends,

Finally I have obtained an English translation of the unprecedented paper Monsignor Balducci gave me at our historic Meeting in Rome in December (2002). In this seminal work, the Monsignor-theologian, (who is the Pope's choice as Chief Exorcist for the Archdiocese of Rome/Vatican itself), not only makes an air-tight case for the reality and acceptability of Star Visitor contacts with humans, but argues that these Visitors are more highly intellectually and spiritually evolved than humans.

The Monsignor gave me a copy of this Paper, and intends to share it with his Vatican colleagues. It must also be the first document by a high-level churchman to mention Area 51, Nevada.

Richard Boylan, Ph.D.

<><><><><><><><>

UFOLOGY AND THEOLOGICAL CLARIFICATIONS

(Monsignor Corrado Balducci - Pescara, June 8th. 2001)

Premise.

Over the last 150 years it have appeared sequentially and
with an increasing spreading and frequency rate, two types of manifestations and phenomena, very different between them, but both so interesting, controversial and fascinating to divide public opinion into two different aspects: or everything is real, or well everything is false. These are spiritualism and ufology. It shouldn't surprise us this approach, because it's related only to the reactions and behaviour of the public before these two phenomena and not to their contents, obviously quite different between both of them

Regarding spiritualism, this is a practice for which
there are testimonies across the centuries; in 1847, with the sisters Fox in Hydesville (New York), it had a special remark and spread rapidly in several countries. Very soon there was an explanation for the phenomena connected to such practices, even by the scientists: the souls of the disincarnated, better said of the dead people, are the cause of this. This was called the spiritualist hypothesis, against which theologians soon opposed to the so called demonic hypothesis.

Only by the end of XIX century there were made the first
attempts to look for a natural explanation, and finally in 1922, with the thick book of the French scientist Charles Richet, Traitè de Mètapsychique , it began officially the so called Metapsychics, nowadays better known as Parapsychology.

When I began with my demonic and metapsychic studies back in 1950, I found myself in a period when, since two decades ago, it was denied the existence of spiritualist phenomena (and not only by some scientists, but also by a very wide public opinion), that represented at that time the most abundant cases of Metapsychics.

The same is valid since some decades on regarding
Ufology.

After this premise, we reach our subject, for which I
have two very brief clarifications to expose.

- The acronym UFO (Unidentified Flying Object), is used
here in a wider sense, or even better, including also the
existence of living beings in other planets.

- The aim of my intervention is to underline that
something real must exist in the phenomena, and how this does not contrast at all with Christian religion, being considered positive even among theologians.

Let's divide the speech in three points:

1. Something real must exist.

2. Theological considerations on the habitability of other
planets.

3. Some testimonies favourable to it.

I - UFO: Something real must exist.

This is a statement coming out from basic considerations
based upon common sense, human rationalism and upon a normal and possible course of our lives, considering not only individual and social aspects, but also religious.

In fact, today there is a great amount (still increasing)
of testimonies regarding the so called flying saucers or
spaceships and the extraterrestrials; and among them there are some coming from reliable persons, with a culture and initially non believers. There are already hundreds of thousands of eye witnesses in the world that state to have seen UFO's at least once. There are so many, even in a smaller amount, the testimoniescoming from the so called contactees.

If we consider this, it seems impossible to deny at a
rational level that something real does exist A totally sceptic behaviour is not justified at all, because a priori seems to be against to the elemental prudence suggested by the good sense.

It is also real that we could think rationally that so
large average of testimonies could be due to illusions,
hallucinations and to states of intense suggestion. In other cases it could be also due to particular light effects or well to atmospheric phenomena, such as clouds that over the mountains may show a shape similar to the flying saucers; we could use as an example the so called ball rays or well globular flashes of lighting.

Other times UFO's could be confused with certain types of round-shaped aeroplanes, that were certainly built in USA since the so called Cold War (it is also certain that Russia built some aeroplanes of this type). This promoted in the period after World War II, the spreading of the idea that flying saucers were nothing else but new inventions with warring aim, obviously kept secret.

But these are always inaccurate explanations and
considerations to explain the number of testimonies and the wideness of UFO phenomenon. The most severe and hard criticism could reduce largely this number, but never will be able to eliminate all of them.

We also have to remember that in several countries exist
places, organisations and associations that collect evidences and testimonies on tape, in order to make them examine and study by experts and scientists as necessary; after that the whole set is catalogued in explainable and non explainable phenomena. It is not any longer a secret the existence of the so called Area 51 in the United States, within a zone in the hearth of the Nevada desert; an enormous land area that has a larger construction
underground than on the surface. In France is famous the SEPRA association; in Italy there is the CUN, Centro Ufologico Nazionale (National Ufological Centre), already on its 36th. year of existence, and with Dr. Roberto Pinotti as President since long ago; also in Italy there is since 4 years until now the CIFAS ( Council of International Federation of Advanced Studies )
dedicated to study the relationships between man and
extraterrestrial space, which President is still Gen. Salvatore Marcelletti.

Regarding the existence of something real within UFO
phenomenon, I must add another consideration that was left for last to better underline its importance. And this is, that a generalised, systematic and total incredulity finally would weaken and destroy the value of human testimony, with serious and unforeseeable consequences, because that is the base of life not only individual and social, but also religious.

In fact, testimony is a form of communication of our
faith in our partner. This is a widely spread way on daily life (when listening news, spending, buying, etc.). Let's imagine what could happen on individual and social life if the value of human testimony was weaken, with the logical decrease and disappearance of that faith many times is essential for daily life.

After this, I have extended such inconveniences to
religious life; in fact, also Christian religion is based upon human testimony, being the Divine Revelation an historical fact.

In 1937 Jesuit theologian Herbert Thurston wrote on
purpose: From a logical point of view, christians that accept miracles and other episodes related on the Gospel... they cannot reject in an obstinate way the reiterated testimonies of modern and reliable witnesses, that relate what their eyes have seen... All our Apologetic system is based upon the belief in the Truth said in the Gospel ( Church and Spiritualism ; Milan, 1937; p.p.
179). For that: systematic demolition and discredit of
humantestimonies regarding simple fact data, seem to me contrary in principle to all belief on the historic seriousness of Gospel, and indirectly, to every belief on Christian Revelation (Op. Cit. p.p. 157).

II. Theological and biblical considerations
on the habitability of other planets.


First of all a clarification: we should exclude that
angels use spaceships, due to the fact that they are merely
spiritual beings, and that they are wherever they want to be, and in the rare cases when they show themselves, they don't have any difficulty to assume a visible form. The very same we can say about dead people. Holy Virgin, in the very few cases when she could consider to be in contact with human people (very exceptional episodes and to be confirmed in their authenticity), continues to choose other very different ways to transmit us her
maternal affection, to manifest us her urgencies, to communicate us her maternal claims or to give us her sweet reproaches. Even keeping their angelic nature, we shouldn't think about the devils at all, because they are connected in their liberty to God on their extraordinary activity, and in that way they are disabled to express their terrible and malefic hate regarding us. Let's remember St. August: If the devil by his own initiative could do anything, even a single living being would not stay on Earth (ML 37, 1246); let's remember also to St. Buenaventura: Is so large the demon's cruelty, that he would swallow us in every moment, if Divine protection don't guard us ( Diaeta salutis , tit. 7 c.1, Verona 1748, p. 183).

Therefore, when speaking about extraterrestrials, we must
think in beings like us, or well and preferably in other types of living beings, that in their spiritual part they have associated a material one; better said, a body in a better state than the one existing for us as humans.

There is not a scientific certainty yet about this
problem, even if this seems to be closer and closer, thanks to the progress of science and study. Regarding the theological and biblical aspect of this matter, we can remark three points, three affirmations in favour from the various considerations:

1. Before all, that exist other inhabited planets is
something possible. In the Bible there are not specific allusions to other living beings, but neither is excluded this hypothesis, that for this stays as possible, if we think that God's omnipotence and wisdom have no limits, being infinite.

2. Furthermore, the existence of other inhabited planets
is something credible. In fact, there is a great diversity between angels, merely spiritual beings and us, composed by spirit and matter; better said, soul and flesh, but a soul that cannot act if don't use the body as an instrument; a body that makes with its passions and capital vices conditional the soul to the point of make human person so fragile, and more devoted to evil than to goodness. Therefore is credible that this enormous distance
between us and the angels could be reduced by the presence of beings that, having also a body (even if more perfect), their soul is less conditioned on their intelligent and volitional acting.

If necessary, there is another confirmation upon the very
ancient saying of Lucrezio Caro: Natura non facit saltus ; a very famous phrase (that I found on the De rerum natura ) and quoted - regarding that argument - also by some theologians.

Another consideration is taken for the aim of the
creation, or well the Glory of God, a concept that you can find several times on the Bible. For instance, Psalm 18 begins by saying precisely: heavens sing the glory of God. But only human person is able to give this glory to God in a conscious way, because it has intelligence and free will.

Precisely for this, several theologians say, is not only
possible but credible, that in the spaces that are distant and inaccessible for men and his scientific instruments, do exist other beings able to know God as their Creator, and also they give Him this Glory, that for them and their worlds represent the aim of Creation.

Jesuit Father Domenico Grasso, Professor of Theology at
the Pontifical Gregorian University wrote on purpose: Why all the perfection God has spread so widely in the universe should be kept hidden without singing the glory of God? Wouldn't it be a discordance unsuitable for God? Who writes a book knowing that it will never be read by anyone, or well who paints a painting to hide it from anyone's sight? .

He claims regarding the statements made by German
theologian Joseph Pohle in one of his books of 1904 (page 457): It seems to be accordingly with the aim of the world that inhabitable celestial bodies are settled by creatures that recognise the glory of God in the physical beauties of their worlds, in the same way man does with his smaller world ( Die Sternewelt undihre Bewohner - The Stars of Universe and its Inhabitants ; Köln 1904; pp. 457). Finally Father Grasso concludes: we must think in the angels to know where God receives the glory from these worlds from, because them, that are purely
spiritual, are not able to know the matter but indirectly, in the same way man does with the spirit (ib.).

3. Beyond to be something possible and credible, I would
see desirable the inhabitability of other planets. In a future, even if very remote, these eventual inhabitants, superior to us, could be very helpful to us, specially in our spiritual path. In a non practical way, they could had been protecting and helping us since long time ago.

If it is the case that they do really exist intelligent
beings on other planets, it would be easier to understand how to conciliate their existence with the redemption of Christ. As St. Paul says (cfr. Col. 1, 16-17), a real fact is that Christ is the centre and head of the creation of the universe. Therefore there are no worlds without a reference of Him. From the Bible is possible to assure that Christ, as Incarnated Verb, has total influence upon all the possible inhabited planets.

I quote what said by St. Paul to the Colossians: For by
Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on Earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things and in Him all things consist... For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell. And by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross (Col. 1, 16-20).

The Church celebrates the last Sunday of the Liturgical
Year (before the Advent) as the Feast of Christ, King of the universe, and in its liturgy the universality of His kingdom is remembered, which is also expressed in the daily Mass.

III. Algunos testimonios a favor.

There exist several interesting statements on the
inhabitability of other worlds by lay scientists, theologians or servants of God which already qualified for a process of beatification or canonisation. Obviously I'll limit myself to quote just some of them.

Beginning with the laymen, let me quote the great French
scientist Charles Richet (1850 - 1935), that was, among otherthings, a materialist. In 1922, in his Traitè de Mètapsychique, he stated: Do we have any right to claim, just because of our limited senses and our mistaken intelligence, that man is the only intelligent being in this immense cosmos?... That other intellectual forces, different from us, exist, is not only possible but extremely probable. It is even certain... It is absurd to claim that we are the only intelligence in nature... The existence of these beings cannot be proven, but the probability of their existence is evident (loc. cit., Paris 1922, pp. 787-788).

I remember 5 theologians:

1. Cardinal Nicolò Cusano (1401 - 1464), philosopher and scientist that said: We are not authorised to exclude that on another star beings do exist, even if they are completely different from us.

2. The Jesuit Father and astronomer Fr. Angelo Secchi
(1818 - 1876) wrote: It is absurd to claim that the worlds
surrounding us are large, uninhabited deserts and that the meaning of the universe lies just in our small, inhabited planet.

3. The famous Dominican preacher Jacques-Marie-Louis
Monsabre (1827 - 1907) referred to the principle Natura non facit saltus when he claimed that other intelligent beings besides men and angels exist.

4. The already quoted English Jesuit Father Herbert
Thurston wrote: Who can claim that there are no other intelligent beings besides these 3 categories of angels, demons and men in the Universe of God? I do not intend to confirm the possibility I indicated in my question as a fact, but I ask: Who can be sure about it? (Op. Cit., pp. 3).

5. German Theologian Giuseppe Pohle: Hypothesis of the plurality of inhabited worlds is totally favourable to the glory of the Lord. God creates for His glory, and any glory is possible without intelligent beings, able to know the creation of the Lord.

I remember two persons for whom there is already
going on their process of canonisation:

1. The Salesian Father and Servant of God Don Andrea
Beltrami (1870 - 1897) who prayed also for the possible
inhabitants of other planets. Of the 16 booklets he wrote, one seems to deal with this topic (and I say seems because unfortunately I was not able to know the titles of his 16 publications).

2. The second (with whom I want to close this paper), is
the already sanctified Padre Pio, who was beatified by Pope John Paul II on May 2, 1999 and canonised on June 16, 2002. From St. Fr. Pio, the following dialogue is documented and officially published by the Cappuchin Order:

Question: Father, some claim that there are creatures of God on other planets, too . Answer: What else? Do you think they don't exist and that God's omnipotence is limited to this small planet Earth? What else? Do you think there are no other beings who love the Lord? .

Another question: Father, I think the Earth is nothing
compared to other planets and stars . Answer: Exactly Yes, and we Earthlings are nothing, too. The Lord certainly did not limit His glory to this small Earth. On other planets other beings exist who did not sin and fall as we did. (Don Nello Castello: Così parlò Padre Pio ; Vicenza, 1974).

Lac. Corrado Balducci

Rome, C. 7 / 6 / 2001

Edited March 11, 2009 by Guest