Aliens and Religion, Part 11 - Outside Mainstream Catholicism
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Religion and Aliens
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This post is a special in the series of objective, non-judgement views of various religions’ views on the potential of extraterrestrial life. See the previous posts on Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Protestantism and Other Christian Faiths, Islam Judaism, the Dharma faiths, the ancient faiths, Theozoology and World Ice Theory, Native American religions, and the Twentieth Century faiths of Nation of Islam, Scientology, & Falun Gong for more. Additionally, check out my look at the “Aliens are Demons” argument and my podcast interview on that subject.
Outside Mainstream Catholicism
First, an explanation of the term. By “outside mainstream Catholicism,” I am lumping together reported apparitions, alleged visionaries, and groups that range from fully within Catholic belief but not endorsed by the Vatican to openly schismatic groups that claim to be the real Catholic church. These groups range from notable enough to have Pope Francis extend pastoral care to them in the case of Our Lady of Medjugorje to anonymous online posters. While the Catholic Church has declared belief in aliens doesn’t contradict the faith and left matters at that, the possibility of aliens is a major factor in many, but not all, Outside Mainstream Catholic groups.
“No Comment” Comment on Aliens
Our Lady of Medjugorje
Status within Catholicism: The Vatican declared nothing obstructs Catholics from a devotion to the reported Virgin Mary apparition, though the Church doesn’t make a call either way on whether the event was supernatural.
Our Lady of Medjugorje is the closest to the mainstream of all the groups and devotions in this study. Most Catholics probably have not heard about the alleged apparitions that started in the 1980s and continue today, but those who have tend to lean towards either believing it is the greatest and final of the Marian apparitions or an epic fraud.
Back at the start of events in 1981, one visionary asked, “Is there life on other planets?” The alleged response was, “That is not for you to know now.” The rest of the messages up to this day focus primarily on repentance, conversion, and upcoming prophesies of alleged signs that will signal the start of the End Times.
Believes in Aliens
Church of Jesus Christ of the Whole Universe
Status within Catholicism: Separated from the mainstream Medjugorje-movement, founded its own church outside control of the pope.
Bosnian priest Father Tomislav Vlasic was one of the first spiritual directors for the alleged Medjugorje seers. In 1987, he moved to Italy and founded a group that eventually adopted the name the Church of Jesus Christ of the Whole Universe (CJCWU). The Catholic Church excommunicated Vlasic.
Unlike Medjugorje, where aliens were dismissed as a non-important topic, the CJCWU makes the matter a key part of its dogma. The CJCWU teaches there are three universes: the high, middle, and low. Human-like beings created in God’s image inhabit each universe, living on various planets. Earth is in the low universe, considered the most hostile, with other planets hosting humanities that refused God and aligned with the devil. The middle universe is full of peoples who are undecided on which side to take. Meanwhile, the high universe is home to faithful humanities that did not commit original sin.
The CJCWU believes beings from the high universe can and do travel down to the medium and low universes to evangelize. CJCWU beliefs state that after Jesus’ death, these aliens came to Earth and offered support to the early apostles. God intends to unite all good humanities throughout the universe to prepare for a “new creation.”
The evil aliens are up to no good, though. There is the Confederation of Light, which is an interplanetary force serving the devil, with members including the Illuminati and Reptilians.
Apostles of Infinite Love
Status within Catholicism: Broke-off from the Catholic Church and founded its own church with its leader as pope.
French priest Father Michel Collin spent the mid-1900s founding a religious community and telling people Jesus had made him a bishop and then God the Father made him pope. Claiming to be Pope Clement XV, he got several hundred anti-Vatican II traditionalist Catholics who preferred the Latin Mass to join his group.
Clement XV declared aliens known as “Planetarians” were preventing nuclear war. Additionally, he stated 5,000 Planetarians lived on Earth under disguise, but he could see their authentic form. Before he died, Clement XV adopted the Protestant-idea of the Rapture but stated God would take true believers to the “Planet of Mary.” This planet was a Garden of Eden-like paradise where no evil existed.
Palmarian Catholic Church
Status within Catholicism: Broke-off from the Catholic Church and founded its own church with its leader as pope.
There are many similarities between the Apostles of Infinite Love and the Palmarian Catholic Church. Spaniard Clemente Domínguez y Gómez claimed Jesus declared him pope, and he got several thousand anti-Vatican II traditionalist Catholics who preferred the Latin Mass to join his group.
There are several inhabited planets in Palmarian theology, with Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory being physical places. The Palmarians also have a Planet of Mary, and they teach some prophets of the Old Testament and John the Baptist live there. Those people on the Planet of Mary will come back at the End Times to fight the antichrist. Meanwhile, demons have taken evil people to the “Planet of Lucifer” where they will return to fight for the antichrist. Other planets have life on them and they are subject to the Palmarian pope.
Father Gregory Hesse (Almost Certainly)
Status within Catholicism: Father Gregory Hesse was ordained a Catholic priest in 1981. However, after a few years he became disenchanted with the Church and rejected Vatican II. He walked a fine line of never formally breaking away from the Church or joining a radical group, he aligned himself with the Society of Saint Pius X. The SSPX is the largest radical traditionalist group in the world. The group denies Vatican II, only does the older Latin Mass, but recognizes the Pope.
In a brief aside, Father Hesse denounced various Marian apparitions such as Medjugorje (above) and Bayside (below). His attack on Bayside criticizes the alleged messenger for saying UFOs are demons. Father Hesse said demons don’t need physical vehicles. While just a short mention, it shows his belief that UFOs are indeed physical objects. I would assess his belief was UFOs were alien vehicles. (The relevant bit is about 15 seconds long. Many thanks to freelance writer Robert Kearney who was instrumental in finding this clip.)
Rejects the Possibility of Aliens
“The Warning” Movement including Father Michel Rodrigue and The Coming Kingdom
Status within Catholicism: A loose, independent grouping of Catholics who openly profess loyalty to the Catholic Church. Their overall view of the End Times is neither endorsed nor denounced by the Church, though in the case of Father Michel Rodrigue, his bishops have issued “total disavowals” of his prophecies.
The Warning is the Catholic form of the Rapture, an end times prophesy that is a lot newer than what many people think. Basically, the theory is that towards The End, God will cause an event which will cause everyone to see the state of their soul. People will then have the ability to repent or be damned. Members of The Warning community tend to cite quotes of saints that are dubious.
Father Michel Rodrigue is a French Canadian priest who was a major figure in The Warning Community. Despite losing some support for failed prophesies involving Pope Francis being killed and former Pope Benedict trying to reunite the Church afterwards, he still has some supporters. In a 2019 talk, Father Michel Rodrigue claimed when he was a child he saw many UFOs but knew they were demons. He further claimed that making the sign of a cross would cause the UFOs to disappear. In a 2024 interview with the right-wing but popular Catholic news service LifeSiteNews, Father Rodrigue claimed God informed him UFOs were a demonic plot because they would lead people to think life came from aliens and not God.
Father Michel Rodrigue has been promoted by Christine Watkins, author of The Warning: Testimonies and Prophecies of the Illumination of Conscience, which is the main book promoting The Warning, on the website Countdown to the Kingdom, and even after his prophecies were shown to be false was defended by the website. Countdown to the Kingdom in turn is a primary Catholic website promoting End Times thoughts including The Warning. Elsewhere on the website, it promotes posts by its writers that claim UFOs are part of a demonic deception directly tied in with the End Times. Also, one of the main operators of the website is Daniel O’Connor, who is the most active Catholic voice on the “aliens are demons” front. In O'Connor's opinion, demons are masquerading as aliens to cause good Catholics to doubt in God's existance and plan for humanity.
Our Lady of Bayside
Status within Catholicism: Catholic Church leadership has denounced the alleged visions and messages, though supporters of the movement remain practicing Catholics within the Church.
New York housewife Veronica Luken claimed to have had a series of messages from the Virgin Mary between 1970 and her death in 1995. Most of them dealt with Cold War matters and prophesies about nuclear war that went unfulfilled. The messages also contained matters against Vatican II and the change of the Mass away from Latin.
The Bayside messages contain multiple references to UFOs and aliens, all of them declared to be Satanic deceptions. Below are several examples.
In response to Luken claiming to see UFOs: "Be not afraid, for you are being allowed to see what Satan plans to delude mankind with. There is no life as you know it, or human being, or otherwise, upon another planet. The creation of the Father has been given to you in the Book of love and life. Do not fantasize of life on other planets, My children. It is a falsehood.”
"You men of science, you go forward out into space, looking and searching for another world. You will find nothing. Out in space, My children, there only lies a void.”
"Do not look for land, do not look on another planet for life, for there is none. Only those who delude you tell you this. What you saw, My child, in the past, called a flying saucer by mankind, We have allowed many to see this. They are transports from hell.”
"They are performing now prodigies and wonders to confuse and confound mankind. You call one of them the UFOs. They are supernatural manifestations from hell. They are created in the minds of some by the demons, who are capable, because of great power upon earth, to control now the elements, nature."
Most Holy Family Monastery
Status within Catholicism: Broke-off from Catholic Church. Claims to be the last true Catholics.
The co-founder of the Most Holy Family Monastery believes so strongly that aliens are demons that he wrote a book back in 2008 on the subject, which he posted online for free. The reasoning matches many “aliens are demons” beliefs such as abduction stories sounding like spiritual events and similar to stories of demons, and the interest those in the occult had with alien life.
Of note though, unlike some of the more conspiratorial Protestant “aliens are demons” theories, the Most Holy Family Monastery is strongly against the “aliens are demon-human hybrid Nephilim,” citing St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas rejection of the hybrid theory for Nephilim.
The Little Prophet of Love
Status within Catholicism: Inactive, anonymous visionary. Claimed to be faithful to the Catholic Church and accept Vatican II and the pope. No comment from the Catholic Church.
The Little Prophet of Love posted online messages from Jesus. The alleged visions have warnings of future catastrophes and one dealing with aliens. Jesus reportedly told the anonymous seer that “UFOs, aliens are demons and demonic devices” and that “devils travel to other planets, but earth is where they want to cause havoc.”
Lorena
Status within Catholicism: Anonymous Latin American visionary. Claims to be faithful to the Catholic Church and accepts Vatican II and the pope. No comment from the Catholic Church.
Lorena claims visions including from the Virgin Mary that contain a variety of beliefs, including that COVID vaccines take away the essence of God from people. In the warning against COVID vaccines, the message states “Already inhabiting [the earth] are a diversity of incarnate demonic entities that come from other galaxies” to help the antichrist. The message stated those who are far away from God are the ones who the demons abduct.
No Group Stance on Aliens But Leader Has Voiced Opinion
Society of Saint Pius V’s Father William Jenkins
Status within Catholicism: Broke-off from the Catholic Church. It is is a society of priests that deny the current Catholic Church is the Catholic Church, but the Society of Saint Pius V (SSPV) doesn’t claim to be “the Church” by itself.
Father William Jenkins has been the superior general (head) of the SSPV since 2024. In 2023, on a podcast he frequently is on, he gave his opinion that aliens almost certainly do not exist. He based his beliefs on the Bible and traditional Catholic teaching, and stated evolutionists wanted to find alien life to disprove Biblical Creation. Further, he stated his opinion that recent discussion of UAPs and aliens were really distractions to cover up political, economic, and cultural crimes. Claims of the threat of alien invasion were cited as grounds for power hungry individuals to seize power. Finally, he compared Alister Crowley’s LAM to alleged alien sightings, stating demons try to lead people away from truth.
Key Takeaway
Most Outside Mainstream Catholicism groups use aliens as a foil for their beliefs. Whether the aliens are friends of God here to help the world at the End Times, or evil demons playing a role in the End Times, the idea of extraterrestrials is grafted onto their religion to help as evidence to support the groups’ claims. This is a trend in many modern religions. Rare is the Father Hesse in these groups who accepts aliens as a possibility without playing a major role in their faith.
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Until Next Time
Next time we are putting things in high gear. Next time I will share the very short story Lonely Girl. Then, we will have an update on my writing progress on Assumption as well as a follow-on to my post on making a realistic PTSD character.
As always, please leave a comment with any questions, reviews, thoughts, whatever about Fallen, Risen, Dormition, An Odd Pilgrimage, The Savannah Paranormal Detective Agency or whatever else I have discussed. I promise to reply!