What Does the Vatican Know About Extraterrestial Life?

In response to WorldNet Daily's article Vatican: Space Aliens Might Actually Exist, this blog asked the following questions back on May 13, 2008:

Is it a coincidence that the Vatican press release comes before the Mars landing of the NASA Phoenix probe on May 25, 2008? One of the three Phoenix mission objectives is to answer the question: "Can the Martian Artic Support Life?"

Why has the Vatican been operating an observatory? Is it a coincidence that the University of Arizona is partnered with NASA Phoenix mission and has also been hosting the Vatican Observatory Research Group?

As one of the world's oldest astronomical research organizations, is the Vatican aware of some kind of discovery announcement on the horizon?

Tom Horn is also challenging the Vatican's motives in his commentary ...

IS THE VATICAN EASING HUMANITY

TOWARD ALIEN DISCLOSURE?

Horn highlights the recent history of the Vatican's interest in Extraterrestrial life:

• "...there is a certain possibility of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, and that such notion "doesn't contradict our faith." -Vatican chief astronomer Father Jose Gabriel Funes, May 2008
• "...chances are better than not that mankind is facing a future discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence". Intelligent Life in the Universe, Vatican astronomer, Guy Consolmagno 2005
• 2001- Monsignor Corrado Balducci said ETs were actually already interacting with earth and that some of the Vatican's leaders were aware of it.
• 1997- "Because the mentality... amongst those who [are] at the... highest levels of Vatican administration and geopolitics, know that, now, knowledge of what's going on in space, and what's approaching us, could be of great import in the next five years, ten years."- Father Malachi Martin, retired professor of the Pontifical Biblical Institute. Martin was uniquely qualified to hold in secret, information pertaining to the Vatican's Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT) project at the Mount Graham International Observatory (MGIO) in Arizona.

Read the rest of Tom Horn's expose' at News with Views.

See related articles Prepping The World For Alien Disclosure? , Vatican Astronomer: Aliens May Not Need Redemption