This will get more press than it deserves.
Christ as the “Little Prince” maybe?
.- The Director of the Vatican’s Observatory, Fr. José Gabriel Funes, said in an interview with the Vatican daily, L’Osservatore Romano, that believing in the possible existence of extraterrestrial life is not opposed to Catholic doctrine.
Fr. Funes says that taking the image of the lost sheep in the Gospel, “we could think that in this universe there can be 100 sheep, equivalent to different kinds of creatures. We, belonging to human kind could be precisely the lost sheep, the sinners that need the shepherd. God became man in Jesus to save us. In that way, assuming that there would be other intelligent beings, we could not say that they need redemption . They could have remained in full friendship with the Creator.” - Sante Pater
“Oprah! Get Saint-Exupery on the line!”
(Or maybe he’s been reincarnated.) Doesn’t Fr. Funes’ statement remind you of the wonderful novella “The Little Prince” by Antoine Saint-Exupery? The different planets, the sheep, the rose… the Little Prince dies in the end to return to his planet. “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”- said the fox to the Little Prince.
It could happen.
May 14th, 2008 at 5:53 am
“The Little Prince”, a book that should be on everyone’s bookshelf.
A much better perspective than what I used.
But when the first visitors from Alpha Centauri VIII arrive, I gotta admit that it will take more than a Jesuit Astronomer to calm my concerns.
But one bright spot resulting from that visit would be that pundit, author and carpenter (more bookshelves needed) unemployment would cease to exist.
And I suppose, if more than one of them arrives on the first ship, passionate preachers will perish from trying to explain how there is more than one anti-Christ.
Politically correct speeches and homilies will need to be adjusted to reflect “sisters, brothers, Centaurae and Centauri.”
May 14th, 2008 at 8:30 am
Of course the “Press” eager to seize upon any ridiculous statement made by a Roman Cleric is hasty to attribute it to “The Vatican”, as if anyone in the employ of the Vatican State or its institutions secular or otherwise speaks authoritatively for the Church, as this JESUIT astronomer presumes to do.