by Owen Waters

Suddenly, the Vatican says that it's OK to believe in
extra-terrestrial aliens. The Vatican is not the only bastion
of conservatism to have come out with such a policy in recent
months. Both the British and the French governments have now
released their extensive files on sightings of Unidentified
Flying Objects.

Governments have been shy of talking about UFOs ever since the
national panic that Orson Welles caused in America in 1938 when
he read out an adaptation of H.G. Wells' novel, 'The War of the
Worlds' over the radio. The broadcast lasted 60 minutes without
commercial interruption and was formatted as a series of news
broadcasts about the progress of an ongoing alien invasion of
Earth.

People who tuned into the radio show after the initial
announcement about it being fictional were swept up into a
panic that quickly spread across the country. The drama hit
such a public nerve in those tense and anxious days leading up
to World War II that millions of listeners became
panic-stricken. The fallout in the press was enormous, with
12,500 newspaper articles appearing about this episode over the
next month.

For decades since then, the fear of public panic in the face
of a real, mass alien landing has helped to keep governments
quiet about UFO incidents. Also, there was always the nagging
fear in the minds of politicians that, if extra-terrestrials
landed and spoke words of wisdom, people might start following
the ETs instead of the politicians. That fear has since been
largely eclipsed by the fact that, today, very few people
listen to politicians anyway!

In a recent edition of the Vatican newspaper, the Rev. Jose
Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory,
was quoted as saying the vastness of the universe means it is
possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even
intelligent ones. So, he said, believing that the universe may
contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God.

"How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?"
Funes said. "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."

In the interview for the newspaper article, Funes said that
such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens
would still be God's creatures. Ruling out the existence of
aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's creative freedom.

Funes said science, especially astronomy, does not contradict
religion, touching on a theme of the current Pope Benedict XVI,
who has made exploring the relationship between faith and
reason a key aspect of his papacy. The Vatican Observatory has
made great efforts to bridge the gap between religion and
science. It was founded in 1891 and is based in Castel
Gandolfo, a lakeside town in the hills outside Rome where the
pope has a summer residence. The Vatican Observatory also has a
team which conducts research at the University of Arizona
observatory in Tucson.

Funes went on to say that the Bible "is not a science book,"
adding that he believes the Big Bang theory is the most
"reasonable" explanation for the creation of the universe. The
theory says the universe began billions of years ago in the
explosion of a single, super-dense point that contained all
matter. But, he said, such a beginning to the universe would
have been the work of God as "God is the creator of the
universe and we are not the result of chance."

Funes urged the church and the scientific community to leave
behind divisions caused by Galileo's persecution 400 years ago,
saying the incident has "caused wounds." In 1633 the astronomer
was tried as a heretic and forced to recant his theory that the
Earth revolved around the sun. Church teaching at the time
placed Earth at the center of the universe. Galileo was
imprisoned, and later released to spend his final years under
house arrest.

"The church has somehow recognized its mistakes," he said.
"Maybe it could have done it better, but now it's time to heal
those wounds and this can be done through calm dialogue and
collaboration." Pope John Paul declared in 1992 that the ruling
against Galileo was an error resulting from "tragic mutual
incomprehension."

>From this recent news article, it would seem that the Vatican
is beginning to bridge the gap between science and religion in
an attempt to become aligned with the wider view of reality
presented by modern scientific knowledge. Where this will
eventually lead is anyone's guess, but an evolving
consciousness in humanity makes plenty of room for the
potential for philosophical reform in traditional areas.

It is heartening to see that, today, the times certainly are
a-changing.

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This article was written by Owen Waters, author of
"The Shift: The Revolution in Human Consciousness"

Available in hardcover or via immediate download at:

http://www.infinitebeing.com/theshift

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