The Vatican astronomer (a Jesuit, I believe, see joke below) has always been more open to the science of things than his more conservative leaders are willing to verify. Churches never want to adjust their theology to fit new findings, but they simply have to. We are slowly getting used to it. The word "catholic" signifies "universal", therefore the RC church, by its own definition, is OBLIGATED to accept any and all scientific facts as they are found. I say this as a Catholic, and I would say it as a Pope.

However, this does not justify all particular actions based on scientific findings. For example, harvesting embyros to cure the diseases of others would still be criminal and "sinful" by any ethical measure, and we are just as obligated to resist that. Physics is not the last word in the universe, and much of life is incorporeal, that is, not based on matter at all, and we have plenty of evidence of the laws of physics being broken at will by people of unusual integrity. So these "laws" are simply not as absolute as we would like to believe. To state that they are is a personal choice of opinion, never a provable fact.

Such discussions always make me think of two grains of dust or sand wondering if there could be any others out there? Of course there are others, countless others, and the Creator somehow redeems all of them. It also must be repeated, that WE are aliens, and ali other beings will be PEOPLE, just like us. The next great step of theology is to resolve exactly this dawning reality. If we can formularize something as mysterious as the Trinity, then this will be no harder, just a question of the will and humility to do it.
The almighty being does not exist on logic, but on the cold, observed facts that the universe, existence and consciousness itself is fundamentally outside our grasp. We are infintely powerless, dependent specks in the cosmos. But if we are conscious, then the entire universe is primarily a conscious entity, and therefore personal, and whomever the source of it is, they are infinitely greater than us.

Catholic explanatory joke: A Jesuit, a Dominican and a Fransican are in a house together, and the lights go out. The Fransican sits down and praises the goodness and beauty of the darkness. The Dominican holds a great debate, with great minds from far and wide, to discuss the relative merits of whether it would be good or evil to change the fuse. And the Jesuit just changes the fuse.

When we do find life (probably on Mars) within the next few years,
the Vatican Astronomer will be made a saint for making a prediction of life out there,
even though the church has been burning people for saying just this for 100's of years.

Wouldn't it be strange if we'd hear next week that the Vatican Astronomer 'accidentally' fell into a fire.

"Sure, what's the harm in believing in two things with no physical evidence?"

I find this article very interesting, yet contradicting. Catholics preech we were all put here by "god," yet when I respond about believing in evolution and the big bang theory, Im told that we can't prove the big bang happened and therefor existed.

Yet, somehow this unproved almighty being exists on the very same logic that the big bang can't. Based on that logic, I could be a pastafarian and worship a flying mass of noodles and be just as right as someone who believes in god, yet I would be laughed at.

This sole reason is why I find religion, in all forms to be a joke. It is simply nothing more than an invention of a hypocritical society of people in many cultures.

This is not to say I don't fault people for believing in it, because they're guess is as good as mine of how we got here. I choose to believe in Darwinism because of physical evidence of evolution.

I just can't believe a group of people can be so arrogant to believe one thing over another without proof of either and label the others as sinners. Try arguing with the people that go door to door preeching about god and you will see what I mean

>>Vatican Astronomer

should be:

"Its OK for Vatican to start Religious METI and send our Sermons to ETIs…"

The universe is a dangerous place but there is no more mystery there than in a textbook.
It saddens me how ignorant people are to the truth.

Now if we could just get those fundamentalist Protestants to be open to science, the world would be a bit more peaceful.

ET: Greetings.

Humans: God created the Universe, and since we were created in his image, we are therefore superior to you. Submit to us and believe, lest you be dealt the consequences.

ET: We'll check back again when you gain official K1 status.

I think this is a pre-emp to the Mars lander, if it does discover evidence of life, it might throw a wrench into some hardcore believers, so this is a way to prevent questions that might arrise. It is sad the damage that religion has done to hold back human development, just look at the easiest example, stem cell research.

I'm glad that Catholics seem to be making up for their anti-scientific history by taking up this torch in the 21st century.