The Pope's Astronomer, Jose Gabriel Funes, has, in an interview, admitted that "there would be nothing surprising about the existence of intelligent extra-terrestrials." The article continues:
"Just as there is a multiplicity of creatures on Earth, so there could be other beings created by God [beyond it]," he said. The interview suggests that the Church's hierarchy may be paving the way to showing that Pope Benedict XVI is more open to the ideas of modern science than he has previously seemed to be.
As far as evolution is concerned, the article suggests a bit of discord with regard to Vatican views:
Fr Funes, in the interview, admits that, for him, evolution is a given. He also said that he believed in the Big Bang theory as the most likely explanation for the origin of the universe, and that the Bible should not be held to account for its lack of scientific accuracy. "Fundamentally," he said, "the Bible is not a book of science... It's a love letter written by God to his people in the language of two or three thousand years ago... So one cannot ask the Bible for scientific responses."
Funny, I think that William Jennings Bryan said this around a hundred years ago.
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