What the Vatican and the Popes Have Said About Extraterrestrial Life
Funes 2008 • Astrobiology 2009 • Francis 2014 • The Archives 2024 • What Is on the Record
What the Vatican and the Popes Have Said About Extraterrestrial Life
Headlines say the Vatican has accepted aliens, would baptize them, or is hiding them. This page sets out what was actually said, by whom, when, and in what setting, and what has never been said at all.
The Record at a Glance
- Church Teaching
- There is no definition of the Church on whether intelligent life exists elsewhere • The question is left open
- Fr. José Funes, SJ (2008)
- The director of the Vatican Observatory said belief in extraterrestrial life is not in conflict with the faith • He also called the incarnation of Christ “a unique and unrepeatable event”
- Vatican Study Week (2009)
- A week on astrobiology hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences • A scientific meeting, not a doctrinal one
- Pope Francis (2014)
- In a homily on Acts, he asked what the Church would do if Martians arrived and asked for baptism • A homiletic remark about the Holy Spirit, not a teaching document
- Vatican Archives (2024)
- An official of the archives told Catholic News Service that no document in the archives concerns extraterrestrial life
- Pope Leo XIV
- No on-record statement on extraterrestrial life found • Claims online come from UFO commentators
How to Weigh a Vatican Statement
Not everything said in or near the Vatican carries the same weight, and most of the confusion about aliens and the Church comes from treating them alike. Four kinds of statement appear in this story:
- Teaching of the Church. A definition by a council or by the pope, or the Catechism. There is none on extraterrestrial life.
- A pope speaking in a homily or interview. It is the pope speaking, but a homily is preaching and not a definition. Pope Francis’s remark about Martians is of this kind.
- A Vatican scientist or priest giving his own view. Fr. José Funes, SJ, and Br. Guy Consolmagno, SJ, of the Vatican Observatory, are scholars whose opinions are their own, even when printed in a Vatican newspaper.
- A Vatican official answering a factual question. A statement from the Vatican Apostolic Archives about what its holdings contain is an answer about records, not about doctrine.
Each statement below is placed in one of these groups. Where a claim circulates that I could not trace to an on-record source, it is treated as rumor.
Part II
The Record, 2008 to 2026
| Date | Who | What was said or done | Setting |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 13, 2008 | Fr. José Funes, SJ, director of the Vatican Observatory | Said belief in extraterrestrial intelligent life is “not in contrast with the faith” and spoke of an “extraterrestrial brother”; said the incarnation of Christ was “a unique and unrepeatable event” | Interview in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper; his own view |
| November 6 to 10, 2009 | Vatican Observatory and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences | A week on the origin of life and the possibility of life elsewhere; Funes said the questions “deserve serious consideration” | Scientific study week with a press conference at the Holy See press office on November 10 |
| May 12, 2014 | Pope Francis | Asked what the Church would do if Martians arrived and asked to be baptized, as part of a reflection on the Holy Spirit and the Gentiles in Acts | Homily at Mass; not a teaching document |
| 2014 | Br. Guy Consolmagno, SJ, and Paul Mueller, SJ | Published Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial?, a collection of questions and answers from the Vatican Observatory’s mail | Popular book; the authors’ own views |
| July 2023 | David Grusch, former U.S. intelligence official | Told Congress that the Vatican was involved in an international cover-up of alien secrets | Congressional testimony; a claim, disputed by the Vatican in 2024 |
| June 11, 2024 | Marco Grilli, secretary to the prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Archives | Said the prefect “wants to affirm that there is no document in the archives that regards extraterrestrial life” | Statement to Catholic News Service |
| May 2026 | Br. Guy Consolmagno, SJ | Said popular interest in aliens reflects “humanity’s fear of being alone in the universe” | Conversation with Catholic News Service, posted by the Vatican Observatory |
| 2025 to 2026 | Pope Leo XIV | No on-record statement on extraterrestrial life found | Online claims of coming “disclosure” come from UFO commentators |
Sources for the table. The 2008 interview is reported by Catholic News Service in the Catholic Herald. The 2009 study week is reported by Catholic News Agency. The 2014 homily is discussed by Daily Theology. The 2023 and 2024 items are reported by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, from Catholic News Service. The 2026 remark is in a Vatican Observatory post.
Part III
Funes and the Question of Redemption
The 2008 interview is the source of many of the “the Vatican accepts aliens” headlines. Fr. José Funes, then director of the Vatican Observatory, told L’Osservatore Romano, according to Catholic News Service, that it is difficult to rule out other intelligent life, and that “this is not in contrast with the faith, because we cannot place limits on the creative freedom of God.” He added that if we call earthly creatures brothers and sisters, we might also speak of an “extraterrestrial brother.”
The point most often dropped. Funes did not say that aliens would not need Christ. He said that if there are other intelligent beings, it is not a given that they need redemption, because they might have stayed in friendship with their Creator, and that God’s mercy would reach them if needed. In the same interview he said that Christ’s incarnation and sacrifice was a unique and unrepeatable event. Some headlines, including the Catholic Herald’s, summed this up as aliens possibly not needing redemption, which is the reporter’s summary and not Funes’s wording.
What it was. It was an interview with a priest and astronomer in the Vatican’s newspaper. It was not a statement of the pope, of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, or of any council.
The 2009 study week. From November 6 to 10, 2009, the Vatican Observatory and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences held a week on the origin of life and the possibility of life elsewhere. At a press conference at the Holy See press office on November 10, Funes said the questions deserve serious consideration and carry philosophical and theological implications. Scientists such as Jonathan Lunine, Chris Impey, and Athena Coustenis spoke on astrobiology. The meeting was about science, and it did not issue any statement on doctrine.
Part IV
Pope Francis and the Martians
The remark that made the most headlines was made in a homily at Mass on May 12, 2014. The reading was from the Acts of the Apostles, where Peter is led by the Holy Spirit to baptize Gentiles. As Daily Theology reports it, the pope said the Church should not close the doors to the Holy Spirit, and asked what would happen if “Martians” arrived and asked to become Christian: “Who are we to close the doors?”
How to read it. The pope was preaching on a passage about Gentiles. The Martians were an illustration of the openness of the Spirit and the rule that the Church does not set limits on who may be baptized. He did not say that Martians exist, that the Church expects them, or that the Church has a plan for contact. It is the pope speaking, but it is a homily, and it is not a definition of doctrine.
The book. In 2014 Consolmagno and Paul Mueller published Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial? It is a collection of the questions the Vatican Observatory receives, with the authors’ answers. The authors speak for themselves, and the book is not a statement of the Church.
Part V
What Catholic Teaching Leaves Open
Taken together, these statements show how the question is held. The Church has not defined that there is life elsewhere, nor that there is none. The ground rules come from what is already taught:
- God is free to create. This is Funes’s point about not placing limits on His creative freedom.
- The incarnation happened once. “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:10, KJV) Funes called it “unique and unrepeatable.”
- Every spirit is to be tested. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God.” (1 John 4:1, KJV) The Church has long advised caution about visions, signs, and unexpected messengers. See our guide to testing a spirit.
None of the statements in Table 1 says that aliens exist. They say that the possibility does not contradict the faith, which is a much smaller claim.
Part VI
Rumor Versus Record
The archives. In July 2023 David Grusch, a former U.S. intelligence official, testified before Congress and alleged that the Vatican took part in an international cover-up of alien secrets, including that Pope Pius XII passed information to the United States about a crashed craft. In 2024 Catholic News Service reported scholars who argue that accounts in the Vatican archives of miracles might be read as UFO events. On June 11, 2024 Marco Grilli, secretary to the prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Archives, told Catholic News Service that he did not know where Grusch got his information, and that the prefect “wants to affirm that there is no document in the archives that regards extraterrestrial life.” He added that scholars should be dissuaded from futile attempts to find such material. The full report is on the bishops’ conference site.
Pope Leo XIV. Since his election, a number of articles have said that he will lead Vatican “disclosure” of alien life, for example Higgypop and the International Business Times. As of this writing I found no statement from Pope Leo XIV on extraterrestrial life in the Vatican’s own sources. These pieces rest on commentators’ predictions, not on anything he has said.
A fair summary. The Vatican’s scientists speak openly and cautiously about the possibility. The pope has used the idea as an illustration. The Church has taught nothing definite. And the one official statement about hidden documents says there are none.
Part VII
The Eastern and Orthodox Voices
I found no statements from the Eastern Churches like the ones above. As the pieces on this site show, the Eastern conversation runs through the elders and the tradition of spiritual warfare. They gather what the saints and elders are reported to have said:
- The Orthodox Church, UFOs, and spiritual warfare
- Elder Paisios of Mount Athos on aliens and UFOs
- Saint Gabriel Urgebadze on aliens
- Seraphim Rose’s alien prophecy and the religion of the future
- Padre Pio and aliens: what he actually said
- Catholic saints on aliens and UFOs
- What the saints said about aliens, UFOs, and UAP
- The exorcist, UFOs, and demons
- The great deception: the saints on discernment in the end times
Part VIII
Enoch, the Watchers, and the Alien Question
The Vatican statements treat extraterrestrial life as a question for science and theology. A different line of thought, which this site has followed, looks to the Book of Enoch and the story of the Watchers in Genesis 6, and asks whether modern claims about visitors are better understood as the older story of fallen angels. That is not a Vatican position, and it is not a position of the Catholic Church. It is a reading offered by some Eastern Christian writers and by readers of Enoch.
The Book of Enoch is not in the Catholic or Orthodox canon, though the Ethiopian Church counts it as Scripture. You can read about it on our page on the Book of Enoch and in what the Church Fathers thought of it. The Book of Jubilees tells the story of the Watchers in its own way, and you can read it in full with commentary on our Jubilees page.
Part IX
Prayers
Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
Lord Jesus Christ, You are the Creator of all things seen and unseen. Keep us from fear of the unknown and from the hunger for secret knowledge. Teach us to test every spirit, to rest in Your Church, and to pray before we speculate.
Holy Mother of God, and holy angels who stand before the throne, pray for us. Through the prayers of all the saints, have mercy on us and save us. To You be glory, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.
Part X
Cards and Books
These cards honor the saints and angels who stand behind the Church’s teaching on spiritual warfare and discernment. The books are Amazon affiliate links.
Four handmade cards: the archangel Michael, Padre Pio, Saint Gabriel of Georgia, and Saint Seraphim of Sarov.
The Book of Enoch, and a book on weighing modern claims about angels, demons, and strange visitors.
The book links on this page are Amazon affiliate links. If you buy through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Curiosity Is Not a Sin
The Vatican’s scientists look at the sky with wonder and without alarm, and the saints teach us to keep the heart at peace in Christ. If you are building a prayer corner for the angels and saints who help us in the struggle, our handmade prayer cards are a good place to begin.
Appendix
