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CSETI InterviewCSETI Visits the Vatican
By Sally Suddock, October 4, 2000
The director of the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence has returned from a trip to Rome, reporting that one of the Vatican's upper-level officials has agreed that governments should disclose the presence of intelligent ET beings. CSETI director Dr. Steven Greer said he met with Msr. Padre Corrado Balducci in his home outside of Rome Sept. 23, "for what I consider a rather historic event," said Paola Harris, a journalist who accompanied Greer and cameraman Peter Sorenson to the meeting. "Padre Balducci agreed to be interviewed and filmed as part of a major Greer's worldwide disclosure project. This project included the filming of military witnesses, commercial pilots and scientists and other involved parties in Italy who were directly involved with the UFO phenomenon," writes Harris of the meeting. "Of course there must be something between us and the angels" Padre Balducci told the group. "If there are other beings, they are surely more evolved than we are. We are at the bottom of the ladder for our ability to 'see good but do evil'." "Since all of Christianity is based on witness testimony, we must realize how important testimony is. It would be a tragedy if we began to be suspicious of all the people who report that they experienced something unusual like seeing crafts in the sky because there are some very credible witnesses who have seen these and come forward," the Vatican official told the group. Harris said he agreed with CSETI's disclosure initiative, including requests to President Clinton that government confirmation of ET presence be disclosed.
"Most interesting to me was a question that Steven posed concerning whether the work of the Devil was included in this phenomenon and it was appropriate that Padre Balducci should answer since his specialty was demonologist for the Holy See," wrote Harris, quoting Balducci as saying that "the devil does not need UFOs to manifest. Neither is most witnesses suffering from disillusion as they have no reason to invent such a thing." It's the third time this year that Catholic leadership has openly discussed UFOs and their implications for the presence of intelligent life beyond Earth. In April (Cosmiverse, May 8, 2000), Hebrew scholar Zecharia Sitchin met with Msr. Balducci to discuss the commonalities in Judaism and Christianity and the possibility of intelligent life beyond Earth. The two met during a conference in Bellaria, Italy that explored "The Mystery of Human Existence." "Extraterrestrials could exist on other planets; they can be more advanced than we; and materially, Man could have been fashioned from a pre-existing sentient being," the Vatican official told Sitchin.
And in June, an Argentinean Jesuit priest told an international conference in Rome that he believes "extraterrestrials exist and are our brothers." Jose Funes also is an astrophysicist and said he thinks the odds are in favor of extraterrestrial life because of the multitude of stars in multiple galaxies. "In a typical galaxy there can exist a multiplicity of planets similar to our Earth, and with living beings like ourselves. If it is as I believe, they must be considered our brothers in creation," said Funes. He made the comments during a Vatican Observatory conference in which more than 250 discussed the theological implications of the galaxies in the universe. (Cosmiverse, June 19, 2000). While traditional modern governments are loathe to acknowledge life beyond Earth, the Vatican, it appears, is becoming increasingly willing to publicly discuss the topic. The Msr. Balducci's meeting in September with Greer and CSETI, however, is reported to be the first such discussion of a Vatican official with a ufologist organization. More details and photos from the September meeting can be found at their Website.
