Today’s POV blog

In an apparent departure from scripture, the Vatican is engaging experts to verify or dismiss the possibility of alien life elsewhere in the universe, and the implication that this may have for the Catholic church.

In an article reported by FOXNews.com, Reverend Joe Gabriel Funes, Jesuit priest, astronomer, and director of the Vatican Observatory said, “The questions of life’s origins and of whether life exists elsewhere in the universe are very suitable and deserve serious consideration.”

Thirty Catholic and non-Catholic scientists from the U.S., France, Britain, Switzerland, Italy, and Chile attended a five-day conference called to explore among other issues “whether sentient life forms exist on other worlds.”

In 2008, Reverend Funes published an article in L’Osservatore Romano, the newsletter of the Vatican Observatory (translated here), as reported by Wired.com.

Some theologians believe that the existence of other life forms will be inconsistent with the existence of God — or at least organized religions — while others agree that since God created the universe, he would have created aliens, too.

NASA chief historian Steven J. Dick, author of The Biological Universe, says, “Religion hasn’t gone away after Copernican theory, after Darwin. They’ve found ways to adapt, and they’ll find a way if this happens, too.”

In 1534, Anglicans split with Rome when the Vatican refused to give English King Henry VIII a marriage annulment; since that time, Anglicans have become divided over such issues as admitting women to the priesthood and the consecration of V. Gene Robinson, as the first openly gay bishop.

After nearly 500 years, the Vatican has said that married Anglican priests will be admitted to the Catholic priesthood on a case-by-case basis.

This move — easing the way for disillusioned Anglicans to convert to Roman Catholics — might undermine decades of efforts between the Holy See and Anglican leaders over how the two churches could reunite. Some faithful Anglicans are unhappy about the progressive reforms in their church and consider themselves Catholics — though they have not officially joined the Roman Catholic church.

While the Holy See statement does say that the Vatican would consider accepting married Anglican priests into the Roman Catholic priesthood as it has in the past, in no case could a married man become a bishop.