Vatican Official: "Yes, We Would Baptize Aliens"

Geoffrey C. Olive

If I didn’t have any thing better to do I wouldn’t mind having a job as a pope! Plenty of benefits!👍 Here’s a few: Nice hat and gown to wear! Only work on Sundays, Xmas and Easter! Live in a nice rent free palace in Rome, so not having to travel far for sun bathing and spaghetti! Lots of servants and minions doing the palace work! Authentic spaghetti and other Italian cuisine brought by the minions! Not having to put money into the church collection box! Getting money from the church collection boxes! Popemobile for getting to the pub, cinema, beach and shopping! Etc, etc!

And now the downsides! Having to work on Sundays, Xmas and Easter! Wearing ridiculous clothing! Learning Latin and another language like Italian! Mandatory prayers to a sky daddy! Reading the bible! No wife or girlfriend, but maybe a boyfriend who sings in a choir! No going out boozing and partying! No pornography other than what’s in the bible! Etc, etc!

Tom Acierno

Actually I Don’t think the question of Baptism would ever come up. If aliens landed anywhere in the United States they would first be greeted by ICE; pepper sprayed, handcuffed, and transported to a detention center. WELCOME TO EARTH! Our world today is not the world that Jesus lived in, life today is much more complicated. To some degree, as a people, we have lost our ability to respect or be kind to each other.

Olemann

Thank you for exited story. If extraterrestrial beings was evil or had bad intentions. They are so more advanced then us, so they would obliterate us easy. They watching over us so we do not destroy this beautiful planet, they have always been here and in the sky, but we humans see often just what we wanna see. Very exited times we live in. Peace and love from a priest in Norway.

Tami Tabone

I dont know if the concept of what we humans consider religion would even be something that a highly intelligent sentient beings would want to participate in. They may want to learn about it as intelligence often involves curiosity. But attempting to force our religious beliefs on other beings would most likely not go over well. And as some people who claim to be religious automatically are calling sentient beings demons, it shows how unkind and close minded humans could be when faced with other intelligent beings. I feel very much saddened by the reactions of those that claim to be religious toward others.

Sir Lionheart

If there are any that visit our planet they wouldn’t be welcome in the USA, they would truly be illegal aliens. We have enough we are trying to send back home as it is. 🤭

🦁❤️

Ari Joseph Bertine

This one has certainly gotten some interesting responses, gotta give it that.

Michael Blackwood

It is hilarious that this hypothesis is being entertained by anyone. Maybe we should get Penn and Tellers opinion first.

Michael Ray Lane

Baptism can’t save a demon. I believe these spiritual forms are not from outer space but rather from a different realm right here on earth. Ephesians 2;2 “prince of the power of the air.”

Durwood M. Dugger

Clearly and exactly why aliens have not shown themselves. Cultures that are myth dependent are too primitive for intelligent beings to associate with.

Brother Natas

Baptism of aliens? Why not baptize the other intelligent life that we have right here on this planet - elephants, great apes, dolphins, etc.? Maybe because they aren't able to add to the collection plate?

Roy S. Thorpe

It would probably be similar to bathing a cat! You may regret it in the end! Again, forcing any belief on someone is the least effective way of making it work! Showing people the benefits is way better!

Steven Ferrell

Now this was a good joke to start the day. 🤣🤣

Walter Abington

Aliens only stop on Earth to use the toilet. That’s why only hillbillies with crappy camers see them. At least they dont ho door to door askng if you heard of Morklore their lord and savior.

Michael Dwayne Cooper

We are the sheep that went astray. Aliens don t need our help. There are about 99 or so alien species that are doing just fine.

Joseph Grieco

Decades ago, one of the SciFi/Horror Comic Magazines that Warren Publishing had, they published a story where Humans landed on another planet. They thought the indigenous inhabitants were attacking them and destroyed the planet's population. It was weeks later that their computers translated the language and determined they thought the astronauts were Angels from the Lord, but when they were attacked, declared them demons. That and the ubiquitous symbol they saw everywhere was their equivalent of the Crucifix - based on their anatomy. Why do I bring this up? Because any alien civilization intelligent enough to reach our planet and make contact likely already has their own religious beliefs to parallel our own. Once again, Hubris on the part of the RCC.

Rev. Kev

Ray Bradbury sort of addressed the same issue in his short story "The Fire Balloons". In the story, Father Peregrine was part of the colonization of Mars. He saw what looked like floating balls of energy and found they were intelligent beings. In later talks, they assured the priest that they had no need for salvation as they already live in perfect peace and oneness.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, we have the short story by Damon Knight (later a Twilight Zone episode) where apparently benevolent aliens land on Earth. They share their advanced technology, extend human life, and offer world peace. They later offer to take humans on ten year exchange visits to their homeworld. Human linguists attempt to translate the alien language using a book they deduce is titled "To Serve Man". A title that eases the worries of humans as to alien motives. The shock comes when they later discover its a recipe book with humans as the main ingredient.

Whatever the case, either our Jesus and odd rituals will be meaningless and unnecessary to them or the all-powerful God would have already established more alien-relatable beliefs or systems on their homeworld. Which could easily include their own doctrine of Manifest Destiny, subduing the natives, and forcing us to accept their religion at the point of their advanced weapons.

Patricia Ann Gross

What gets me is the notion of "they are also God's creatures." Sure, so are dogs, cows, and lions, but I don't see any religion doing anything more than a "blessing of the pets" when acknowledging the furry four-leggeds as part of the family. Some even question whether or not other animals have souls. I am also one who doubts that humans and the other "living organisms" on earth are the only ones in the universe. I'm also open to the possibility that there is other "intelligent" life out there which might be more intelligennt than we are. I'm not sure its worth worrying about until it happens, though, because whatever scenarios we come up with, it will probably look like something else completely.

Hermit Gardener

What if extra-terrestrial aliens visited earth as missionaries, looking for cosmic heathens to baptize into whatever flavor of religion they practice?

How many godless earthly natives would be willing to accept their message?

What type of punishment or pressure would be appropriate to inflict upon humans who did not accept the word of the alien missionaries?

Pastor Bobby Roy

My Take If we ever encountered extraterrestrials, I think the healthiest response would be hospitality first, theology second. Welcoming them into human traditions could be a gesture of goodwill, but it would also require humility—recognizing that our understanding of God and creation might be far smaller than the universe itself.

It’s worth noting that many religious traditions already emphasize universal compassion. Buddhism speaks of sentient beings broadly, Islam teaches that Allah is the Lord of all worlds, and Christianity emphasizes love of neighbor. If aliens are “neighbors,” then perhaps the first step is simply to treat them with dignity.

Here’s a provocative angle: maybe the real test isn’t whether aliens would accept baptism, but whether humans could expand their spiritual imagination enough to see them as fellow seekers of truth.

Geoffrey C. Olive

And what if the aliens want to impose their religion(s) on humans, assuming they have at least one? Maybe Jesus was actually an alien and being the “son of god” probably he shouldn’t be classified as human!🤔🤣 Monotheistic religion (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) generally depicts god as a human man presumably with reproductive organs and other sex based anatomy! What purpose would it have for these organs?🤔 Does it have a wife or girlfriend?🤔🤣 If all this sounds ridiculous, then why does religion support a human like god so vigorously?🤔

Lynnea Urania Kaylor

Speaking in a Christian context (which I personally don't represent), baptism was given to humans for humans as a milestone marking one's claim to becoming a new creature as one "born of water and spirit" (John 3:5) Do we baptize chimpanzees or other primates? Nope. What about more advanced beings? We might argue that Cetaceans are more advanced than us but we don't understand them enough to recognize it or to apply any level of equivalency to them. Besides, they may not even need it anyway, especially since they're continuously immersed. They may have already recognized a divine being who has redeemed all nature to Himself. So what would be the criteria for aliens who come out of a heaven in the first place? It seems like there would be more than a level of intelligence involved. I mean, do we baptize AI's? Nope. Not yet anyway. There must be some kind of inner drive. So, here's a starter list within that Christian context and perhaps you can think of other criteria as well:

1. Any issue of "original sin" as per Augustine applicable to humans won't apply to an alien any more than it would a dolphin, so a decision to be baptized would need to be a conscious one. In other words, it wouldn't be an infant baptism..
2. The alien must sense some identification with the human condition that may warrant it. In other words, such an alien would sense a binding toward this planet beyond exploration or colonization. Our own "sin-contaminated" state would rub off on the alien somehow.
3. The alien must recognize the need for inner renewal, to experience becoming somehow a "new creation.".
4. The alien must have a sense of love.
5. The alien must sense a need for Messiah.
6. Such a sense cannot be purely intellectual, but tied to the "heart" (or however such may love), manifesting in an emotive draw in that direction as indeed, religion is of such matters more than anything intellectual.

Rev Ned

If it makes you feel better…why not? To quote Lucy van Pelt, “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”

Colleen McAllister

Whether ET aliens are real or not makes no difference. The Bible concerns this planet only. Other planets may not be fallen worlds. Why assume that aliens would not be believers? They may be closer to the Creator than we ever have. Willingness to baptize them is a nonsensical thought at this point.

Reverend Paula Copp

Once they see the way we treated our “savior”, do you really think they’d want to be part of religion? Wow!

James Riggle-Johnson

Religious institutions would absolutely lose their minds if an alien species ever made contact. And since this story came from a Catholic priest saying he’d gladly baptize an alien, I’ll stick with Christianity for a moment.

First, Jesus was human. So why on Earth (or anywhere else) would an alien be interested in baptism? Is it possible their species is without sin, so they didn’t need a savior? That’s putting aside that they may not believe in a god of any kind.

What worries me more is exactly what the article hints at: Christians might assume extraterrestrials are demons. We already have folks calling everything from Pride flags to yoga “demonic.” Imagine what happens when an actual alien steps off a ship. How long before someone tries an exorcism—or worse?

I’m not naïve enough to believe we’re the only intelligent life in a universe so vast we barely understand it. And I’m equally not naïve enough to think that, just because we can’t travel light-years, someone else hasn’t figured it out.

Honestly, I wouldn’t blame peaceful extraterrestrials for avoiding us. They’d look at how we treat each other and think, “Yeah… maybe not.”

Live long and prosper—may the Force be with you.

Messenger

Truly they're far more advanced than we are and they're set apart would probably be far greater than we could ever be knowing that they've had more physical spiritual and long-lasting relationship with the supreme being above. I was told a story back in the day about someone who had been picked up in a ship and while he was up there he asked what was behind the purple curtain and the alien said to the man that's where we go to talk to the supreme being using those words. Then he asked the man if he would like to talk to him trembling in his shoes he denied the opportunity. I would not have I would have gone behind the curtain and found out what was what and who was who and I would not have denied the opportunity. Baptism or immersion is something that each individual would have to want I wouldn't just recommend baptizing all of them or suggesting it but if they were aware of our skills and style of religions and certain baptisms and how they're done because they're not all done the same. I would give them the opportunity if they did or did not why argue with the fact if a supreme being or soul of a different world or a different time than ours who has had visions and spiritual understanding in the purpose of the immersion. Answer is yes.

Nicholas J Page

Whosays aliens don't exist Why is area 51 so secretive and heavily guarded of course we should baptise them if that's what they want.

Geoffrey C. Olive

Pasta Jack Hibbs prefers to believe in fictional made up demons (and angels, etc?) rather than the possibility of real life forms that have evolved in the unlimited content and time of the universe! It is absolutely absurd to think there is a god or gods “outside” of the physical universe who created and/or controls life on earth, which is just one of the billions of potentially possible life supporting planets or environments that may exist! Religion has made this up with no scientific explanation as a means to control the ignorant masses!👎 Of course, no one has ever come back from death with anything about anything to prove or disprove this, so it’s only reasonable to assume there is no ‘after life’ any more than a ‘before life’! Can anyone “remember” with proof of what happened before they were born!🤔🤣 Of course not! Ask anyone who claims this to keep going back through the years, centuries, millennia of years with more memories! No need to mention what their reply is likely to be! God works in mysterious ways maybe!🤣

Bishop William Dusenberry, DD

For all of my fellow ULC ministers, who are probably unaware of the “Doctrine of Discovery” (which the Christian God, personally told the then Pope — who then told to Columbus, when he sailed off to what he thought would be India. Columbus was an alien, when he disembarked on the Dominican Republic, and he forcefully baptized all he encountered, because that’s what the Christian God told the Pope, to tell Columbus to do. In my ULC ministry, I do “de-baptisms” but no baptisms to date. I’ll cross that bridge— if I ever get to it, but suppose I’d do for an understandable reason,

Geoffrey C. Olive

More likely that aliens would be so advanced that they don’t believe in any gods or god and think humans a very primitive ignorant species who can’t think beyond religious nonsense!🤔 Probably they would be treated either as gods or nuclear bombed by the ignorant human military!👎 If they are advanced enough to get here then they probably have defense systems effective enough to overcome anything we have!

J. Anderson

...what if they find the 'aliens' have arrived seeking to also 'baptize', as well as exploit, the denizens of their newly-founded colony on this planet, ala the European colonialists historically in the Americas, Africa and China?

Ty Ford

The term, "illegal aliens" is the new "N" word.

Dr. Melly M.

So….they will baptize aliens but won’t let women become Deacons?. Wow!.

Stefano Di Stefano

I don't believe it much, but this pope seems satanic to me.