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The statements by Funes are the latest in a string of recent comments by Vatican astronomers confirming a belief that discovery may be made in the near future of alien life, including intelligent life, and that this discovery would not unhinge the doctrine of Christ.

In 2005, another Vatican astronomer, Guy Consolmagno tackled this subject in a 50-page booklet, Intelligent Life in the Universe, in which he concluded that chances are better than not that mankind is facing a future discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence.

Approximately 7 years ago Monsignor Corrado Balducci made similar news when he said ETs were actually already interacting with earth and that some of the Vatican’s leaders were aware of it.

Before his death in 1999, maverick Catholic theologian Father Malachi Martin hinted at such more than once. In 1997, while on Coast to Coast AM radio, Art Bell asked him why the Vatican was heavily invested in the study of deep space at Mt Graham Observatory in southeastern Arizona. As a retired professor of the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Father Martin was uniquely qualified to hold in secret, information pertaining to the Vatican’s Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT) project at the Mount Graham International Observatory (MGIO). Martin’s answer ignited a firestorm of interest among Christian and secular UFOlogists when he said, “Because the mentality… amongst those who [are] at the… highest levels of Vatican administration and geopolitics, know that, now, knowledge of what’s going on in space, and what’s approaching us, could be of great import in the next five years, ten years.”

Those cryptic words “…what’s approaching us, could be of great import in the next five years, ten years,” was followed in subsequent interviews with discussion of a mysterious “sign in the sky” that Malachi believed was approaching from the North. People familiar with Malachi believe he may have been referring to a near-future arrival of alien intelligence.

If ET life is something Vatican officials have privately considered for some time, why speak of it so openly now, in what some perceive as a careful doctrinal unveiling over the last 24 months? Is this a deliberate effort by church officials to “warm-up” the laity to ET Disclosure? Are official church publications on the subject an attempt to soften the blow before disclosure arrives, in order to help the faithful retain their orthodoxy in light of unprecedented forthcoming knowledge?

There might be a more mundane explanation for the Vatican’s recent interest in all things spacey.

Writing on Thursday, May 15th for Newsweek (The Vatican and Little Green Men), Sharon Begley noted that “[this] might be part of a push to demonstrate the Vatican’s embrace of science (in 1992 it apologized for that whole unfortunate Galileo mess, after all)… Interestingly, the Vatican has plans to host a conference in Rome next spring to mark the 150^th anniversary of the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin’s seminal work on the theory of evolution. Conference organizers say it will look beyond entrenched ideological positions—including misconstrued creationism. The Vatican says it wants to reconsider the problem of evolution ‘with a broader perspective’ and says an ‘appropriate consideration is needed more than ever before.’”

Indianapolis News Channel 8 released a video taken of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City showing what appeared to be an unidentified flying object moving across the upper left portion of the screen. The video, taken from a network feed camera at around 6:00 am Roman time, was filmed as Pope John Paul II lay in state.

In 1710, Flemish artist Aert De Gelder painted this unusual depiction entitled “The Baptism of Christ.” It clearly shows a disc shaped object hovering in the sky above Christ and emitting four beams down upon Him and John the Baptist. The painting is currently on display at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Paolo Uccello sometime in the 1400’s painted the “La Tebaide”. The picture is now on display at the Academy of Florence. Near Jesus is waht looks like a red ‘flying saucer’ in the air.

Following L’Osservatore Romano’s interview with Jose Funes, Muslim and Jewish leaders joined to say their religion could accommodate an ET reality, while a scholar for the Russian Orthodoxy excluded the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligence.

The question of how the world’s political and religious communities would respond if suddenly faced with visitors from beyond is something world religions and even the US Government has studied. Paul Davies of The Atlantic Monthly wrote in 2003 that the discovery of even a single bacterium somewhere beyond Earth could force mankind to revise its understanding of who we are and where we fit into the cosmic scheme of things. Davies speculated that such a find could throw the human race into a spiritual identity crisis that could leave some gasping for faith in God.

In contrast, the Alexander UFO Religious Crisis Survey of ministers indicated that a majority of people–both religious and non-religious–not only believe in but could accept an ET reality without throwing God out with the bathwater.

Davies hopes this is true. As a cosmologist he sees order in the universe, including the anthropic balances that make life possible elsewhere. This has led to a deep personal interest in the subject of God and ET in which his response to either an ET discovery or visitation would be compatible to his religious ideas. He says the discovery of extraterrestrial life might actually substantiate biblical creation, not challenge it, if mankind is–as the Alexander UFO Religious Crisis Survey suggests–ready for it.

A fresco located above the altar at the Visoki Decani Monestary in Kosovo, Yugoslavia shows “The Crucifixion,” a painting made in 1350. Two flying objects with beings inside them are visible in the top left and right of the fresco.

In the 15th century an unknown artist at the Lippi School painted “The Madonna with Saint Giovannino” showing a disk shaped object above Mary’s right shoulder. A man and his dog stand looking up at the object.

Rabbi James Ruden of the American Jewish Committee says most Jews also leave open the possibility of life on other planets in their interpretation of Genesis.

But What If ET Is Already Here, And He’s the Devil?

Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) are historically connected to the idea of extraterrestrial life. In some cases, behavior of these strange sightings have left witnesses feeling as if they had observed something alive, not mechanical. “I have become thoroughly convinced that UFOs are real,” popular Christian writer Hal Lindsey once wrote. “I believe these beings are not only extraterrestrial but supernatural in origin. To be blunt, I think they are demons.”

In Angels Dark and Light, Gary Kinnaman accepts UFO sightings as the manifestations of angels of darkness. “My main reason for thinking this is that UFO sightings have never, at least to my knowledge, led a person closer to God. In fact, most UFO experiences have just the opposite effect.”

Associate professor of psychology Elizabeth L. Hillstrom points out in her book Testing the Spirits that a growing number of scholars support similar conclusions of UFOnauts being synonymous with historical demons:

In the 1400s Carlo Crivelli painted “The Annunciation.” This artwork is currently on display at the National Gallery in London. It clearly shows a disc shaped object in the sky between the buildings emitting a beam of light onto Mary’s crown.

In this 1490 drawing called “The Assumption of the Virgin” by ANON, note the fleet of flying images in every direction. Some say these discoidal objects are clouds.

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In the Svetishoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta, Georgia, this 17th century fresco shows two disc shaped objects with flame shooting out of the bottom on either side of Christ. When the UFOs are enlarged, faces can be seen inside them.