God and the
Existence of Extraterrestrials
We often see in the media news related
to the appearance of UFOs or signs supposed to come from other planets, with
interesting messages or, at least, fun, as for example shows the video below
related: The face of Jesus in Crop Circles 2010, by Fernando Correa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5jCqArLc5c
Because of this, Iesus Christus interviewed Rev. Fr. Jesus Maria Mestre, professor
of Spirituality and Sacred Scripture at the International Seminar Ms.
Corredentora (FSSPX) of Argentina on the issue to illustrate the souls too and
curiously frivolous.
Published in issue number 117 “Iesus Chrisus” Magazine
“Iesus Chrisus” Magazine:
Reverend Father, some weeks ago the diretor of the Vatican astronomical
observatory, the argentine priest José Gabriel Funes, SJ., has declared in one
interview that the idea of extraterrestrial life have nothing strange about it.
What you think of those declarations?
Fr. José Maria Mestre Roc: What
was published by the Zenit News agency last 16 may, which made echo in all
media.
Iesus Chrisus” Magazine: Could
you resume us the view point of Fr. Funes
Fr. José Maria Mestre Roc: Of
course. According to him, could exist another living beings other than the ones
know. If we didnt concede this possibility we would be limiting God creative
capability.
Appealing soon to St. Francis of
Assisi, which everyone knows spoke of brother sun and sister moon, the question
arises: why couldnt we speak of brother extraterrestrial?
To support his point of view, he
resorts to the image of the Good Shepherd, who goes after the lost sheep: “in
this universe there could be a hundred sheep” – I am Reading what declared
Zenit – “which corresponds to the diverses forms of creatures. We, who belongs
to the human race, could be precisely the lost sheep, the sinners who need a
Pastor”
Lastly, Seeing that here arises an
problem with the redemption operated by Our Lord Jesus Christ, complements that
although there were other inteligente beings, this does not mean that they need
to be redeemed like the men, since they could have remained in full friendship
with their Creator.
Magazine: Well, not admitting to
extraterrestrial life, it really implies - as the Father Funes - restrict God's
freedom to create as many beings as He wanted?
R. P. Mestre: Not at all. It is
true that God is infinitely free in creating and to create; but it is no less
certain that God has made known to us the purpose which he do it. That is
revelation itself. It is not, therefore, that denying extraterrestrial life we
came to coerce the freedom of God, but to abide by what He Himself has told us.
MAGAZINE: In any case, Father,
how to reconcile the possibility that there is extraterrestrial life with the
redemption of Our Lord Jesus Christ? It would be the extraterrestrials
imaculate beings, in the sense that they would not need it?
R. P. Mestre: Because here we
enter the of the pure hypothesis, nothing more, and what can say of a
hypothesis, it is not a affirmation, but another hypothesis or, in other words,
a conditional statement, This is why he employs a potential time, the conditional
mode, indicating that if they exist, this did not imply that they would need to
be redeemed since "they could have remained in full friendship with his
Creator. " However, if they had sinned, " would have the possibility
of enjoying the mercy of God, as we".
Magazine: In another part of his
interview, Father Funes tries to indirectly sustain his opinion, arguing that
there is no contradiction between faith and what science; that is, that there
is no reason to oppose the conclusions of science with ...
R. P. Mestre: ... yes, with the revealed
by God. But the point is not that. There is no contradiction between faith and reason,
of course. The theme is that the science has been really proving now that there
are no extraterrestrial beings... It is important to emphasize this: besides all
the lucubrations, the scientists are obliged to recognize that, despite all the
antennas and telescopes that have pointed to the space to receive signs of life
intelligent on other planets or galaxies, to this day they have received nothing.
The space is absolutely mute. This is the proof... Without the intention of
generating false illusions in people and inducing them to misunderstand, More
than saying that the Science isnt in contradiction with the faith it must be
said that Science - which adheres to the proofs - has been able to demonstrate,
whether willing or not, that there is nothing outside us ...
Magazine: So you're a skeptic?
R. P. Mestre: I believe that we have to situate ourselves in
a realisticpoint of view and common sense, and not fall into fiction. In a
novel one can speak of "our Brothers extraterrestrials, "just as St.
Francis spoke of the" sun brother "or" moon sister. " Here
we speak in a proper way. Here we talk about science. In this context,
suppositions like those of this kind simply imply falling into a theological
fiction. Well, the theology is not about fictions, but about realities.
The case, therefore, is that starting from
what God himself told us in the revelation, and proceeding not by closed
arguments of Scripture or Tradition, but by the arguments of theological
analogy, we have to rule out the existence of intelligent aliens as being
irreconcilable with the right theological data.
Yet, before we would have to
define well what is meant by “extraterrestrial beings” because in the broad
sense the angels, good or bad, are also “extraterrestrial beings.
Father funes does not refer to them
but to intelligent creatures, similar to men, that is, composed of body and
soul, and living on some other planet. To these same ones I also refer here.
Magazine : Nowadays, besides the
novel and the fiction, there are many who believe in the existence of
extraterrestrial beings, even among Catholics. What arguments have to be
invoked to deny this possibility?
R. P. Mestre: The arguments can
be of two classes, philosophical and theological.
Magazine: Since ours is a
religious publication, and the one who referred to the theme is a priest,
explain us better the theological argument.
R. P. Mestre: All right. For this
we will use the analogy. If there are other intellectual beings, we would have
to say that they should have been raised necessarily to the supernatural order,
and this for reasons of harmony with the revelation.
St. Thomas clearly states that
angels were created in a state of grace, and that men were also, for the same
reason as those, namely, because they were to be created in perfect state, that
is, including in some way all that they would come later; and thus both angels
and men, since they were foreordained to glory, must have already from their
creation a seed of the same glory which is Grace.
Well, about these other beings
existing, God would have acted upon them just as He did with angels and men: if
He made them capable of knowing and loving Him - with intelligence and will, as
He did with angels and men - also foreordained them to glory. Nothing
indicates, theologically speaking, that he would have acted with the aliens
differently than with angels and men.... Now the "extraterrestrials"
have been elevated to the supernatural state, as has been explained, of the
two, one: or remained faithful to their original justice , or sinned, like
angels and men.
MAGAZINE: Is this the
"Gordian knot"?
R. P. Mestre: Let's say yes.
Because if they were faithful, and as Father Funes says "they remained in
full friendship with their Creator ... not needing redemption", there are
several drawbacks.
MAGAZINE: Which ones and why?
R. P. Mestre: Because it is
part of the revealed data that men know who is part of the Church, whether
militant, purgative or triumphant. We know that the Church militant is formed
by those who have received baptism, profess true faith and submit to the
authorities established by Christ; the infidels, heretics and schismatics are
excluded. We also know that the triumphant Church is composed of angels and
men.
If there had been
extraterrestrials, we would have to know it, because one day they would be our
companions in heaven, and God would have to have let us know. If we know that
we will have angels as companions, whom we can not see, how could we not know
that they too would be the "Venusians," "Martians," or
"Jupterians," with whom we might be contacted one day?
MAGAZINE: It's no small thing as
a fortiori ...
R. P. Mestre: But that's
not all. There’s more. If we suppose for a moment that God would not reveal to
us that we would one day have extraterrestrials as companions in Heaven, it
would happen that they, the Martians, would have to profess a rather strange
creed ...
MAGAZINE: How's that?
R. P. Mestre: Logical
consequence. It is a dogma of faith that no one can be saved unless he has
faith in a single, triune God, and moreover in the redemptive Incarnation.
About the latter weighs the argument.
These Martians would believe
without difficulty in the dogma of God One and in the dogma of the Trinity, but
the dogma of the Incarnation, which would not affect them at all, would make
their "Credo" somewhat curious: "I believe in Jesus Christ, who
became man What is this?) on the planet Earth (where is it?) To redeem them
from your sin (and what I have with it?) and take them to heaven; and who sent
them the Holy Spirit, who spoke to them through the prophets and the
scriptures, and promises to raise them up at the end of time ... ", etc.,
etc.
In a word, all the faith they
should believe to save themselves ... would refer to us, not to them! The least
you could say is that such a thing is extremely ridiculous and inconvenient.
MAGAZINE: And what if, instead of
remaining faithful, they had sinned?
R. P. Mestre: There are
also serious drawbacks. Why, if God called them to heaven and were unfaithful
and sinned - which would be most likely, for not only men but also angels (the
bad ones) fell - then they can not enter into glory unless they were first
redeemed ...
And this redemption, or they did
not have it, and then they would be hopelessly condemned - something difficult
to reconcile with the teaching of Christ, the Good Shepherd who, if he sees one
of his sheep in danger, leaves the other ninety-nine in a safe place and goes
after the one lost or if they had it, and also their "Credo" would be
very strange again.
Because Christ can only die once,
and once resurrected he can no longer die. For then they would have been
redeemed with us, without counting on a "proper" redemption, and
should pray: "I believe in Jesus Christ, who redeemed me, Venusian,
becoming man (what is" man "to an alien? planet Earth, from the solar
system of the galaxy Milky Way, and who died there for me on a cross, and there
instituted the priesthood that sanctifies me (who are these priests who
sanctify me?) and the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, extreme unction,
Eucharisty (which only men can administer, the angels can not do it, and for
the same reason, not the Martians, to whom Christ has not conferred the
priesthood), and sent them the Holy Spirit (and I somehow I take advantage of
it) ... "
MAGAZINE: Sorry, Father, but that
goes beyond the limit of the credible ... It's a strange "Credo" the
"Martian Creed" ...
R. P. Mestre: And yet it is
true. And so. Admitted or supposed to be something, there follow a series of
consequences, moreover, of theological implications, which are completely
undeniable, no matter how extravagant they seem ...
MAGAZINE: It seems easier,
then, to deny that there are extraterrestrials ...
R. P. MASTER: Regardless of
the point of view, such a possibility is really impossible. It can not be said
that whoever says it is a heretic. However, it must be emphasized that there is
no basis for accepting it, neither in revelation nor in natural creation, and
that on the other hand, it brings many inconveniences from a philosophical and
theological point of view.
Magazine: At this point,
Reverend Father, the possibility of extraterrestrial life, more than fiction,
seems a real absurdity.
R. P. Mestre: I do not know
if absurd, but it is that it is irreconcilable with what we know by revelation.
There are more, many more questions that open and leave insoluble, than the
solutions that brings to any question about it.
Let us think of what Saint Paul
teaches. The Apostle teaches that Christ, the Word made man, is the center of
Creation, the synthesis of all of it, the end for which all - all - was
created; that it is God's will "to restore all in Christ," both the
angelic and the human world. It is then asked: How would this restoration of
everything in Christ in the Venusian world, Martian or extraterrestrial? How
would they be ordained to Christ? What is the meaning of the existence of other
intellectual beings distinct from man, if the end of creation is achieved by
the entry of the Creator into humanity, the mysteries of his human life and the
communication of his merits to the human race?
I believe that opening up the
possibility of believing in the existence of other intelligent beings in the
cosmos outside man's, and not seeing in him any incompatibility with Catholic
doctrine, as Father Funes says, is explained only by theological relativism and
religious environment.
Such a theory is born and inevitably
leads to relativism, because it amounts, in little or in all, to the following:
these animals, if they exist, are saved equally; they can be Catholics without
Christ and without the Church; believe in whatever they want, are equally
oriented to Christ, or to God, or whatever, in a way not unlike - say - today -
Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists ... and even atheists!
Translated from the portuguese by myself, original link: https://www.fsspx.com.br/deus-e-a-existencia-de-seres-extraterrestres/
