” “"As an astronomer, I keep believing that God is the Maker of the universe and we are not the product of chance but the children of a good Father who has a plan of love for us": it was said in an interview on today’s "L’Osservatore Romano" by father José Gabriel Funes, director of the Specola Vaticana (Vatican Observatory), questioned about the relation between astronomy and faith. The title of the article is "L’extraterrestre è mio fratello" (The alien is my brother). As to the possible presence of life in the space, father Funes states: "In my opinion, this possibility does exist. Astronomers think the universe is composed of one hundred billion galaxies, each one composed of one hundred billion stars. Many or most of these might have planets. How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere as well?" "Forms of life he adds might theoretically exist even without oxygen or hydrogen", and this would be "no problem for our faith". "Just like there are multiple creatures on earth, likewise there might be other beings, even intelligent ones, created by God. This does not clash with our faith, because we cannot place any limits on God’s creative freedom. To use Saint Francis’s words, if we consider the earthly creatures ‘brother’ and ‘sister’, why couldn’t we also speak of an ‘alien brother’? He would still be part of Creation".” “
