Vatican Gives Thumbs-Up to E.T.?

In a move that left me stunned, a high-ranking Vatican official recently announced that it’s okay to believe in little green men.

MSNBC reported yesterday that the Vatican’s chief astronomer, Reverend Jose Gabriel Funes, gave a recent interview in the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano in which he said denying the possibility of other forms of life in this great big universe of ours would put limits on God’s creative freedom, and that would be a big no-no.

According to the learned astronomer/priest, there’s nothing in the bible to contradict the existence of extraterrestrial life (Ezekiel’s wheel in the sky vision might even support it), and belief in such beings would not be in contradiction of Catholic faith.

I can’t help but wonder what the bigger ramifications of this will be. Will there suddenly be a mad rush of ex-Catholic MUFON members, spearheaded by none other than Canadian actor Dan Akroyd, returning to the fold? Will Jesus’ bodily ascension into heaven eventually be attributed to a UFO’s tractor beam? Will the pope discontinue the church’s astronomy program post-haste? Only time will tell, I guess.

Artist Hervé Piraud’s Impression of Gliese 581 c, the first extrasolar planet discovered within its star’s habitable zone, from Wikipedia