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Solving the Mystery of What the Famous Saint Said About Extraterrestrials
The Claim and Counter Claim
Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, born Francesco Forgione, and better known as Saint Padre Pio is a famous Twentieth Century Catholic saint with a massive following in Italy and the United States. While he is better known for his spiritual advice, miracles performed, and reported powers of bilocation, he also is a focal point in the Catholic debate over the possibility of extraterrestrials. This debate has been a flash point between two prominent opinion leaders on the topic of Catholicism and aliens: Paul Thigpen and Daniel O’Connor.
First, the claim. Paul Thigpen, an author who publishes under the traditionalist TAN Books label and theologian who served on the national bishop council’s advisory board, published a quote in his book Extraterrestrial Intelligence and the Catholic Faith: Are We Alone in the Universe with God and the Angels? claiming Padre Pio stated his firm belief in aliens. The quote goes "... Padre Pio, once insisted in private conversation that ‘other beings’ exist ‘who love the Lord ... The Lord certainly did not limit his glory to this small Earth. On other planets other beings exist who did not sin and fall as we did.’"
The quote is attributed to a presentation the exorcist Msgr. Corrado Balducci, a firm believer in aliens, gave in 2001. Thigpen provides the citation to Don Nello Castello's book "Così parlò Padre Pio,” which was what Balducci used to back this claim.
Others bring up the another claim claiming Balducci said Padre Pio’s order published the quote about the saint’s belief in aliens.
With a respected cleric backing this alleged quote, many people have cited this as Padre Pio’s belief as they believe God somehow gave Padre Pio this knowledge.
Not everyone was convinced, though. Daniel O’Connor, a Catholic theologian who supports the “Aliens are Demons” hypothesis and promoter of the End Times beliefs involving demons masquerading as aliens, rebuked the alleged quote. In his book Only Man Made in His Image, Daniel presented his counterclaim.
Finding the Source
All this got me thinking. What did the saint actually say? Well, a quick investigation and the magic of the internet solved the mystery within a few hours.
The book cited as having the original claim, Così parlò Padre Pio, is a hard to obtain tome. Rarely does it turn up on Italian eBay and Italian Amazon. Right now, both have messages stating the book is unavailable. Other second hand markets, even in Italy, don't have the book, either.
However, doing searches for the book’s author led to a surprising discovery. The book was also printed in English as Padre Pio Teaches Us. And it’s available for free on the Internet Archive.
With an English copy available, I determined author Nello Castello was a priest, and the book had a bishop’s imprimatur - a fancy way of saying the bishop stated there was nothing in it that contradicted the Catholic faith. Meanwhile, a Gherardo Leone wrote the book’s introduction. The name Gherado Leone was a pseudonym for Pio Trombetta. Trombetta was an acolyte of Padre Pio’s and worked as the first editorial director of the official magazine of the Padre Pio Prayer Groups, which operated under Padre Pio’s approval. The magazine operates to this day under the name La Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza.
The Saint’s Belief
So, what does the book state Padre Pio said? That aliens *probably* exist.
However, I wanted to be sure that this wasn’t a translation issue. Thankfully, I was able to find a video of a priest that looks like Nello Castello reading in Italian the passage in question.
Original Italian: "Sì, e noi usciti dalla terra siamo un nulla. Il Signore non avrà certo ristretto la sua gloria a questo piccolo pianeta. In altri ci saranno degli esseri che non avranno peccato come noi."
English: "Yes, and we who come from Earth are nothing. The Lord surely would not have restricted His glory to this small planet. In others, there will be beings who have not sinned like us."
The quotes present a saint who had a strong personal opinion without claiming it as something he had absolute certainty about.
Judging the Claimants
On the pro-alien side, there is the problem of telephone gaming the original quote. As the chain of sourcing extended, the quote’s claim wiggled around to be one that implied not a firm belief of possibility but a certainty that went beyond what the book implied. Also, Msgr. Corrado Balducci, or those who claimed it was Balducci made the statement, was wrong for saying Padre Pio’s order published the book.
Sloppy research does more damage to one’s claims elsewhere than a debunking. One worries any other cited claims may be poorly researched.
As for the failed debunking, there is a troubling indication of deception. The translation of the publisher is the Home for the Relief of Suffering. La Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza is also the name of the private research hospital founded by Padre Pio in the town he lived in during most of his ministry.
Daniel O’Connor stated “an Italian hospital” published the book. However, he would have known the hospital he thought published it was Padre Pio’s, and on top of that he was wrong as it was Padre Pio’s official prayer group and not his hospital who published the book. His bias led him to exclude information and challenge his beliefs that would affect someone’s judgement reading his counterclaim.
The (failed) misdirection also damages O’Connor’s other stated claims. If he was shady and wrong on this one, what else can you trust from him?
A Rich Cosmos
The traditional Catholic understanding of the cosmos is vast full of things visible and invisible. The possibility of aliens isn’t upsetting to Catholics who understand that. Who knows what is out there, but I am sure it is beyond our understandings.
Until Next Time
Next time, I we will start the weekly(!) release of Savannah Paranormal Detective 2 chapters!
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!
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Awesome detecive work, thanks for sharing this!
I still say aliens don’t exist 😎