Vatican: Aliens May Be Free From Original Sin

Earlier this year the Vatican issued a statement acknowledging that Darwin's theory of evolution was compatible with Christian theology.  Now the Vatican's chief astronomer has postulated that extraterrestrial life is possible.
Writing in the Vatican newspaper, the astronomer, Father Gabriel Funes, said intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space.  Father Funes, director of the Vatican Observatory near Rome, is a respected scientist who collaborates with universities around the world.  The search for forms of extraterrestrial life, he says, does not contradict belief in God.

Just as there are multiple forms of life on earth, so there could exist intelligent beings in outer space created by God. And some aliens could even be free from original sin, he speculates.

Link.  The photo does not depict an alien free from original sin - just a random chestbusting alien.

so.....gays are sinners, but aliens are cool?

.....i grew up Catholic, so stuff like this should surprise me....but wow. if they start offering Kool-Aid at service, don't drink it!
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So wait, Jesus died for our sins, but we're still subject to the original sin?

Aliens may be free from original sin...

But if further exploration of whatever we could have access to finds a common link between whatever life can be found elsewhere and what we've got here... (Panspermia)

We'd STILL be subject to original sin?

Then again, using logic within religion is pretty much why 'dogma' has a dual meaning, each contradicting or reflecting badly upon the other...
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Sure all animals are free of the Original Sin- It was the humans that messed up in the Garden of Eden- not the animals including the monkeys and apes. All those creatures are free of Sin- They are Innocent. Okay- Except for some creatures like snakes who are Lowly and who Serve Satan...

And because the Humans are the True Children of God, made in His Likeness (or something like that- I don't know the English way of saying that), they are the Masters and Caretakers of the planet and all its inhabitants in the Name of God.

Yes Christ has died for our sins and we're still subject to the Original Sin- He only Saved us from eternal Damnation and premature Loss to the Last Judgement. Since He died for our Sins, we have a point of reference to judge our own behavior and to correct ourselves before we condemn ourselves to Eternal Damnation by our Sins....

I am sorry- This all is the Load of Crap that I learnt in Christian school....
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How convenient for everyone of you to discount the entire concept of religion based the false ideas of one religion. Perhaps you should do a little more research and mabey, just mabey, consult your maker before following the rest of the modern day lemmings.
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@TomTom23 re "Where does the link contain the text you've quoted??"

The "Writing..." paragraph is the second paragraph at the "link" link. The "Just..." paragraph is the sixth one.

???
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Original sin was invented to shame or scare decent people into giving money to the churchm Regardless of your belief in a higher power, any religion which functions by threatening people with eternal damnation and promising eternal pleasure should be viewed with suspicion.

If I told you that my religion teaches "The apple told the serpent to eat Eve, and therefore all animals are sinners" you would think I was crazy.
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I have faith that all intelligent beings in the universe have committed sin. Moving forward means that someone has to reject traditional teachings for new ideas. "If God had meant for us to fly he would have given us wings". We built our own wings, which was a sin. Any alien culture, based on faith or science will sin. (No sin in science you say? Try alchemy.)
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I think they're just hedging their bets since if there aren't aliens, it doesn't matter, and if they are, then they have to appear to have predicted correctly the state of the alien's spirituality to fit in with their (the Catholic's) view of reality.
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@somone @JamesM

Original sin was Adam's and Eve's eating of the fruit of the tee of knowledge, against God's orders. This got 'em kicked out of paradise, and tainted every human sould from there on out.

According to the church, Jesus made it possible for us to avoid damnation and, by god's grace, go to heaven. Baptism washes away original sin, and going to confession and atoning lets us cleanse ourselves of the the sins we commit in life.

So basically, original sin is why the unbaptized can't go to heaven. Accordng to the Catholic church, even unbaptized babies are damned. This creates a whole host of interesting debates all its own.
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Anthony C wrote:
"Accordng to the Catholic church, even unbaptized babies are damned. This creates a whole host of interesting debates all its own."

Ummm, simply put, no, this is not current (or past) teaching of the Catholic Church. The teaching is along the lines of "we do not know and have to trust that God is merciful and just in such issues". There had been in the past some Church theologians (notably Augustine) theorizing on the *potential* existence of a "Limbo" (which is a nice place, not damnation, but not heaven either) for unbaptized babies, but this has never been official doctrine.

There was a papal document in 2007 called 'The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die without Being Baptized' which includes the following " ...give serious theological and liturgical grounds for hope that unbaptized infants who die will be saved and enjoy the beatific vision. We emphasize that these are reasons for prayerful hope, rather than grounds for sure knowledge." Google it if you like...

So Anthony was speaking from his rectum.
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"So wait, Jesus died for our sins, but we're still subject to the original sin?"

We are subject to original sin in that we are obligated to remember that it is because of the sacrifice of Jesus that we are free from it. Yes it applies, but because of the Lord's mercy its debt is paid.

Simple.
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samlive - why? It doesn't teach us much else useful other than what anyone with half a brain could work out for themseleves.
"Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations,..."
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I wish I could find this, but years ago I picked up a little pamphlet that was a sort of anti-Chick tract. It portrayed a couple of evangelists going door-to-door, and encountering a couple who said that they weren't in need of salvation, because the God of Genesis was actually "Elohim," which is plural, indicating that there were GODS who created male and female humans, and those who Yahweh had not created had never lived in the Garden of Eden, had never experienced the Fall, and thus were free of original sin. It was some interesting food for thought, to say the least.
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