Vatican looks to heavens for signs of alien life

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VATICAN CITY - E.T. phone Rome. Four hundred years after it locked up Galileo for challenging the view that the Earth was the center of the universe, the Vatican has called in experts to study the possibility of extraterrestrial alien life and its implication for the Catholic Church. “The questions of life’s origins and of whether life exists elsewhere in the universe are very suitable and deserve serious consideration,” said the Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, an astronomer and director of the Vatican Observatory. Funes, a Jesuit priest, presented the results Tuesday of a five-day conference that gathered astronomers, physicists, biologists and other experts to discuss the budding field of astrobiology — the study of the origin of life and its existence elsewhere in the cosmos.

msnbc.msn.com/id/33838894/ns/technology_and_science-space/
 
It is a good thing that the Church did not rush to embrace Galileo’s views, because it turned out that his ideas were not entirely correct, either. Galileo believed that the sun was not just the fixed center of the solar system but the fixed center of the universe. We now know that the sun is not the center of the universe and that it does move—it simply orbits the center of the galaxy rather than the earth.
 
I could tell them what the origins of life is. Heck I’m not even a scientist and I know that one! I could even tell them for free and with out all those fancy high priced gadgets:D
 
Reminds me of that new show V. Anyone else seen it? One of the main characters is a Catholic priest.
 
Fone_Bone_2001 said:
Reminds me of that new show V. Anyone else seen it? One of the main characters is a Catholic priest.
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Yes, I’m a fan of that show – V.

Even after these first 3 episodes… I’m hooked!

All is not as it appears to be.

[It also reminds me of Earth: Final Conflict. Except in Earth: Final Conflict you ARE able to tell who are the aliens. It’s the humans who choose to go along with the Taelons’ true mission that you have to be concerned about.

In the early twenty-first century, Earth is visited by an androgynous-looking alien race, the Taelons. Soon—with the Taelons’ help—famine, disease and pollution have been eliminated.

William Boone is assigned protector of Da’an, the Taelon “companion” for North America. However, Boone is secretly working for the resistance—an underground organisation that believes the Taelons are not as benevolent as they seem.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123816/)
In the TV show – V –

The actor Joel Gretsch who plays the priest also played the role of Thomas in The 4400.

The actress who plays the lead female role in the TV show “V” – also played in the TV show “E.R.” the role of the lesbian lover of Dr. Kerry Weaver, the woman doctor who in the last few years of the series was head of the Emergency Department.
 
Three episodes?! I thought there’d only been two! When did the third one air?
 
I watched the first episode of “V” last night (thanks be to God for the invention of the DVR :)).
I had to guffaw a little when the priest said “It might lead to worship, or worse, devotion”! LOL. Almost sounds like bad anti-Catholic propaganda.
Also, is it a given that the priests are Catholic? One scene appeared to show the priests about to start a worship service, and it definitely wasn’t a Mass, though that could be the writers not knowing what a Mass really looks like.
 
WarEagle, it may in some sense be anti-Catholic later on; who knows?

But I am positive that what we have seen so far is decidedly not.

a) Father Jack’s quote about devotion is in the context of people’s adoration of the Vs. It is not anti-Catholic any more than it would be if the priest were talking about devotion to, say, President Obama. He wasn’t saying that devotion itself is bad; he was simply implying that - directed to the wrong thing - it becomes idolatry.

b) We do know they’re Catholic, because they talked about the Vatican statement on the Vs as if it held authority for them. You’re probably right that the other details’ being off is simply the result of producers/writers who do not know the Catholic liturgy.
 
Fone_Bone_2001 said:
WarEagle, it may in some sense be anti-Catholic later on; who knows?

But I am positive that what we have seen so far is decidedly not.

a) Father Jack’s quote about devotion is in the context of people’s adoration of the Vs. It is not anti-Catholic any more than it would be if the priest were talking about devotion to, say, President Obama. He wasn’t saying that devotion itself is bad; he was simply implying that - directed to the wrong thing - it becomes idolatry.

b) We do know they’re Catholic, because they talked about the Vatican statement on the Vs as if it held authority for them. You’re probably right that the other details’ being off is simply the result of producers/writers who do not know the Catholic liturgy.
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Oh, I didn’t mean to imply the show was anti-Catholic, just that line about “devotion” to the V’s being WORSE than “worship” was kinda funny to me as a Catholic since we often simplify the terms as; “worship = latria” and “devotion = hyperdulia” when describing to non-Catholics how we don’t “worship” Mary.
I didn’t notice the reference to the Vatican statement, but that would pretty much imply to me that they are Catholic, so thanks for pointing that out.
Anyway, I liked the first episode and hope there is more discussion of it on here as I think it presents some interesting theological conundrums. I’m sure Jimmy Akin will chime in on his blog about it sometime. That should be fun.
 
I thought this thread was about the Vatican looking to the heavens for signs of alien life, not the show “V”? 🤷
 
Does it bother anyone else that the Vatican (the Pope) is seeking information regarding the origin of life? It’s one thing to seek information about ETs, but to make the statement about seeking info. of life’s origins? To me that is a scary thing. It seems the Vatican is showing that they are willing to change their “ideas” of life’s origins. That can be a slippery slope, folks. I know JPII would not have opened up this questioning. It makes me think what other “ideas” the Vatican is willing to open questioning on. Maybe it’s just me.:confused:
 
The Vatican astronomer, Br Guy Consolmagno:
Astronomy’s one of those things that makes you realize that you’re more than just a well-fed cat, that you’re a human being with curiosity, with interests. You want to know where you came from, you want to know what those lights in the sky are, you want to know how it all fits together. That’s what it means to be human.
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the reason that they [the Vatican] fund us … is to show the world that the church embraces science. We have faith in our faith. We’re not afraid of science. … It was Pope John Paul II who said, “Truth does not contradict truth.” So if we find truth in our science, ultimately it’s going to bring us closer to God.
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mslinda8393 said:
Does it bother anyone else that the Vatican (the Pope) is seeking information regarding the origin of life? It’s one thing to seek information about ETs, but to make the statement about seeking info. of life’s origins? To me that is a scary thing. It seems the Vatican is showing that they are willing to change their “ideas” of life’s origins. That can be a slippery slope, folks. I know JPII would not have opened up this questioning. It makes me think what other “ideas” the Vatican is willing to open questioning on. Maybe it’s just me.:confused:
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It’s something to be concerned about because the Holy See has been heavily influenced by the claims of atheistic scientists, especially on the topic of evolution – but it stretches to these speculations on the origin of life.

For many reasons, the Vatican does not want to discuss God’s involvement in creation, and is leaving all of the research on origin and development of life issues to scientists - many (most?) of whom are atheists.

Then we match this interest in alien life forms, to the denial of something like Intelligent Design theory (which claims that there is some scientific evidence indicating the presence of an intelligence at work in nature).

In seeking evidence for intelligent alien life forms in the universe, scientists will use the same approach that Intelligent Design theory will use in looking at the universe – seeking clues of the work of an intelligent agent.

This whole program seems hopelessly confused and compromised in my view. Our teachers have lost some confidence in the divine teaching and they’re giving too much credit to scientific speculations. Why not give the same amount of credit to researchers who claim that God created life on earth and that the origin of life could not be due to natural processes alone?

We shouldn’t be ashamed of what divine revelation teaches us – even in the face of ridicule from atheistic science. God will win in the end and science has been proven to be laughably wrong in many, many cases.
 
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