The Bible mentions lots of non-human, intelligent beings, says Vatican astronomer and planetary scientist Br. Guy Consolmagno. Like Fr. Funes, who’s interview about extraterrestrial life in the Osservatore Romano made worldwide headlines yesterday, he thinks Catholics should have no problem with aliens. Consolmagno – a self-described science fiction fan- believes that Trekkies and Browncoats might be surprised to learn that the Church was talking about ‘other worlds’ long before Capt. James T. Kirk did!
Not the first time
Yesterday, I blogged about the recent interview in the Osservatore Romano with the director of the Vatican observatory, Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, about the possibility of extraterrestrial life.
Jim Lackey, news editor of CNS (Catholic News Service) wrote on my Facebook page that this was in fact not the first time that Vatican astronomers addresssed the question.
In 2005, CNS editor Carol Clatz did a story about U.S. Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, who works as an astronomer at the Vatican observatory.
What about aliens?
“What about aliens?” is he question he gets all the time when he gives talks on his work with the Vatican Observatory. In his book Brother Astronomer: Adventures of a Vatican Scientist
“There is nothing in Holy Scripture that could confirm or contradict the possibility of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe,” writes Consolmagno in Intelligent Life in the Universe – Catholic belief and the search for extraterrestrial intelligent life.
“God created the whole universe. There’s nothing that makes one place more special than another. Religious people have been able to think in these “cosmic” terms all along, and happily speculated about “other worlds” long before the science fiction crowd had adopted the concept.” (Brother Astronomer: Adventures of a Vatican Scientist
The fun of thinking
Consolmagno told CNS that he tries to show “the fun of thinking” about what it would mean if God had created more than life on Earth. Such speculation “is very worthwhile if it makes us reflect on things we do know and have taken for granted,” he said.
He said asking such questions as “Would aliens have souls?” or “Does the salvation of Christ apply to them?” helps one “appreciate what it means for us to have a soul” and helps one better “recognize what the salvation of Christ means to us.”
Science and religion
In his booklet about intelligent life in the universe, Brother Consolmagno expresses his conviction “that you shouldn’t be afraid of these questions” and that “no matter what we learn, it doesn’t invalidate what we already know” and believe. Scientific study and discovery and religion enrich one another.
According to Consolmagno, if new forms of life were to be discovered, it would not mean “everything we believe in is wrong,” rather, “we’re going to find out that everything is truer in ways we couldn’t even yet have imagined.”
“Can aliens be made in God’s image?”
In an interview with the BBC, brother Consolmagno answers to the question whether aliens would be made in God’s image: “The traditional belief is that they are referring to the aspects of the soul – intellect and free will. The ability to know that we exist, that God exists and the freedom to choose to love or not love. Anything, whether it is an intelligent computer or an alien with five arms – if they have those aspects, seems to me they’d be in the image and likeness of God.”
Extraterrestrials in the Bible?
In Intelligent Life in the Universe, brother Consolmagno – a self-described science fiction fan – wrote a special chapter for Trekkies, Browncoats and other space explorers, in which he reveals where there are references to extraterrestrials in the Bible.
Actually, the Bible has plenty of information about non-human, intelligent beings… they are called angels!
Science and religion
Science and religion can’t contradict each other, explains Consolmagno in Adventures of a Vatican Scientist
“In science we assume that the laws of physics (which we know so imperfectly yet!) are as true everywhere in the universe as they are in our puny little laboratories here on Earth. Likewise, the “laws” of philosophy or theology-that is to say, the essential truths themselves, not to be confused with the formulas our human languages use to try to express these truths-are the same, and true, everywhere.
Aliens and parallel universes
Consolmagno reminds us that “to insist that ‘God could not have made other worlds’ was declared a heresy back in the thirteenth century-so this even covers alternate or parallel universes!”
“Any creatures on any other planets, subject to the same laws of chemistry and physics as us, made of the same kinds of atoms, with an awareness and will recognizably like ours, would be at the very least our cousins in the cosmos. They would be so similar to us in all the essentials that I don’t think you’d even have the right to call them aliens.”
More info:
Read more about brother Consolmagno’s take on extraterrestrial life, astronomy and astrobiology in the following interviews and articles:
Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial?
Interview with Brother Guy Consolmagno in Astrobiology Magazine
Catholic Belief And Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life
You can order a number of Consolmagno’s books online via Amazon:
Brother Astronomer: Adventures of a Vatican Scientist
God’s Mechanics: How Scientists and Engineers Make Sense of Religion
Turn Left at Orion: A Hundred Night Sky Objects to See in a Small Telescope – and How to Find Them
Worlds Apart: A Textbook in Planetary Sciences
Intelligent Life in the Universe? Catholic Belief and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life
I met Br. Consolmagno when he came to speak at Yale University a few months ago. I can say that he had some very interesting (at the very least) things to say.
Very interesting, unorthodox story
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@Eric, in essence it is quite an orthodox story.
You mentioned via your podcast of your interest in astronomy (referencing this post at the same time). Wasn’t sure if you were aware but there is a new software in beta free of charge from Microsoft Research called Worldwide Telescope. Pretty awesome software. Check it out at http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/