May 10, 2026
Dear St. Rita Families,
Aliens! Sounds exciting. Or, perhaps just more of the same. While it doesn’t appear that Scripture addresses life other than plants, animals, humans, angels, and God, it is the solemn affirmation of the Church that “the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation” (Dei Verbum, 11). The Church has never said that other life forms do not exist, but all musings about them are necessarily only speculative. Philosophically, we could play with the idea that there is some other type of animating principle (i.e. soul) than the 3 that are laid out by Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas: vegetative, animal, and rational. But, such philosophical speculation leads nowhere, because there is nowhere to go. Recall that God Himself has created all things, and therefore, that all creation bears some relation to its Creator, as art to the artist. Therefore, if there is some other type of creation out there – alien, for example – then it must somehow reflect God.
Much of the interest (and fear) surrounding the government’s first release of documents about UAPs (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena) is rooted in the question of the unknown. There is good and bad in this. On the one hand, we would be arrogant to assume that we have discovered all there is to discover about God’s universe. On the other, we have been given Revelation – Divine Revelation – to know something about God, ourselves, and the rest of the universe. Thus, we can rationally reflect on what He Himself has said in order to bound our expectations and our fears.
The biggest fear that people seem to have is that alien life is something like the movies – whether Alien, Predator, Independence Day, A Quiet Place, or countless others. In these movies, the aliens are evil. They have a command over the universe, not to mention personal strength and ability, that far surpasses that of humanity, and their aim is to destroy us. Other movies portray aliens as benevolent, something like us, but perhaps deformed (e.g. ET). Still others create a whole universe out there where there are humanoid and non-humanoid aliens – some good and some evil – locked in some sort of epic battle (Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy, etc.) or just trying to live life in the midst of interplanetary happenings (e.g. Men in Black).
What, then, might our expectations be? On the one hand, we could say it might be really cool to discover more great stuff about the universe, and to meet new peoples, and learn from them. On the other hand, we could be interested in new technology (and new relationships) just for the sake of becoming richer, more powerful, etc. In addition, I would submit that many people are looking to discover something about themselves, and they hope that something out there can help them. Remember the Heaven’s Gate cult? It is true that our own humanity and living well (meaning, our sanctification) are much more important than whether aliens exist. But if they do, then their bearing on my sanctification is also quite important. How is it that I exercise Divine Charity in the presence of aliens?
The answer depends on whether an alien has a vegetative, animal, or rational soul. Alien bacteria on Mars demand a different response from us than would alien animals or aliens proper. A rational alien – with an intellect and will – capable of grasping universal concepts and abstract thinking would indicate by that fact that his soul is a rational soul. Does that mean they are made in the image of God like Scripture says about humans? Certainly on some level that would be true. If so, have they fallen into sin? What sort of Revelation from God have they received? Did Jesus die for them, too? Am I to preach the Gospel to them? Scripture attests that all of creation is affected by the redemption of Jesus Christ (cf. Rom 8:19-23), and so somehow this other race would not be left completely out of what has happened here on Earth.
Speculative questions such as these, while fun to ponder, are also only that – speculative. In addition, I do not hear the general public asking these questions. I hear them full of fear and/or ambition, which means that this whole thing may be driven in many people by vice. Certainly, there have been voices recently attesting publicly that they have seen unexplainable phenomena that indicate the presence of something more technologically advanced than we are. I, naturally, cannot dispute such claims because I haven’t seen what they claim to have seen. I (and you, too) can, however, attempt to think rationally about the implications of such claims, according to the Truth of the Gospel.
And, while we certainly can be open, as I mentioned already, to whatever scientific discoveries we happen to make, we also should not exclude the possibility of certain kinds of demonic activity in this area. We know that new age-style spiritual practices (which are, in essence, tapping into the power of demons) are sometimes a means that the government has used in order to achieve its goals. See also the CIA’s own answer, and this article. In addition, the devil works in fear, and there is a lot of fear surrounding the question of aliens. When people are confused about our own humanity, they will often look elsewhere to find answers. And if they are reaching out into the universe for answers while ignoring the Answer that God our Creator has given, there is someone else who will often try to provide an answer. That someone has a strength that far surpasses ours and, though he is usually very subtle about it, he absolutely wants to destroy us. If it is not obvious, I think that the monstrously evil aliens portrayed in some movies are mainly our projections of the devil or demons onto physical creations, sort of a demonic caricature of Christ’s Incarnation. The other versions of aliens can be similar projections, but the lie is the same – there is something other than Christ to whom we must look for knowledge about ourselves, and ultimately for salvation.
And that, of course, is simply false. Gaudium et Spes, the Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, says it this way: “The truth is that only in the mystery of the Incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. For Adam, the first man, was a figure of Him Who was to come, namely Christ the Lord. Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear“ (#22). I don’t need aliens or demons to tell me about myself – Christ has already done that. He who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Jn 14:6) is more than sufficient, if only the world would tend to Him and not to the world of darkness, speculations, and unknowns.
So, whatever documents or phenomena are released regarding the question of aliens, stay firm in this: the Gospel is unchanged. Jesus is still Risen. You have found life in Christ, and no one – not even aliens – can take it away from you!
In Christ,
Fr. Christensen