The search for extraterrestrial life does not contradict belief in God, the pope's chief astronomer said on Tuesday, adding that some aliens might even be innocent of the original sin.
"As an astronomer I continue to believe that God is the creator of the universe," Jose Gabriel Funes said in an interview with the Vatican mouthpiece, the Osservatore Romano.
"Just as there are a plethora of creatures on Earth, there could be others, equally intelligent, created by God,"
Asked about the difficult theological question,
Mr Funes said: "If other intelligent beings exist, it's not certain that they need redemption."
They could "have remained in full friendship with their creator" without committing the original sin, he said.
If not, extraterrestrials would benefit equally from the "incarnation," in which Jesus Christ, the Son of God, assumed earthlings' flesh, body and soul in order to redeem them, which Mr Funes called "a unique event that cannot be repeated".
clipped from: www.abc.net.au