Exovaticana is both an informative and dangerous book. Informative insofar as the authors, Chris Putnam and Thomas Horn, provide extensive scholarship into the history of the Catholic Church and its evolving position on extraterrestrial life. They claim that the Catholic Church has begun a global dialogue on extraterrestrial life where Pope Francis I will ultimately disclose the former’s existence to the world. Exovaticana is dangerous insofar as Putnam and Horn undergird it with some powerful religious prejudices about the motivations of alien visitors to our world. They claim that biblical scripture is a solid foundation for understanding that aliens are demonic entities who destructively intervened in human history, and are about to return and do so again. In contrast, according to Putnam and Horn, Pope Francis I is preparing to lead the Catholic Church to embrace the returning/visiting aliens as “brothers in Christ” – reflective of the 1950s and 1960s contactee reports of benevolent “space brothers.” Putnam’s and Horn’s Exovaticana portends a future religious war between those accepting visiting extraterrestrials as “brothers in Christ” and those believing them to be returning demons about to enslave us.
Putnam’s and Horn’s main thesis is that the Catholic Church is about to move publicly forward in a bold way on the issue of disclosing the existence of extraterrestrial life. They claim:
[W]hen reading Exo-Vaticana, the number of documents and the amount of commentary evidence on the part of Rome’s astronomers and the Vatican’s emerging theology as conveyed herein would be enough in a legal proceeding to convince the majority of a grand jury to determine “probable cause” – that is, to conclude beyond reasonable doubt that the Vatican has intentionally positioned itself to be the religious authority on, and ecclesiastical benefactor of, Official Disclosure: the imminent and authorized public admission by world governments of advanced extraterrestrial intelligence. (p 523)
In Petrus Romanus, their previous book, Putnam and Horn revealed how the Catholic Church has acted to fulfill a 12th century prophesy by St Malachy about the last Pope – Petrus Romanus – who will lead the Catholic Church during the End Times described in the Book of Revelations. Putnan and Horn provided detailed analysis of the Malachy Prophesy and how the current Pope Francis I is Petrus Romanus. The dissolution of the Catholic Church – as we know it – will come about due to events associated with the visitation of extraterrestrial life, and emergence of an alien savior. Putnam and Horn write:
The investigation you are reading uncovers this clandestine blueprint … and along the way, an astonishing exotheological plan by the Vatican itself for the arrival of an alien savior intelligence …and its connection with Petrus Romanus, the Final Pope. Pope Benedict resigned as this book headed to the printer. By now, the world knows who Petrus Romanus is. But do you know his role for the alien savior? (337-38).
Not only is Pope Francis I destined to disclose the existence of alien life, according to Putnam and Horn, but he will endorse a radical exotheological position of alien saviors on other worlds which is promoted by the Jesuit community. That is the idea that alien worlds may have had their own unique experience of the second aspect of the Christian Trinity – an alien ‘Jesus Christ’ may have lived and died on more than one exoplanet. This would mean that Christian salvation would not be unique to earth, and that aliens could have their own Christic traditions and religious insights.
For the Catholic Church, according to Putnam and Horn, this would make it possible to accept aliens as “brothers in Christ.” They cite the Pope’s chief astronomer, a fellow Jesuit, for endorsing this very idea in 2009 when he said: “To use St. Francis’ words, if we consider earthly creatures as ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters,’ why can’t we also speak of an ‘extraterrestrial brother?”
Putnam and Horn cite Father Kenneth J. Delano who proposes the possibility that visiting aliens are ethically superior as evidence of the Vatican’s developing exotheological position :
For man to take his proper place as a citizen of the universe, he must transcend the narrow-mindedness of his earthly provincialism and be prepared to graciously accept the inhabitants of other worlds as equals or even superiors. At this point in human history, our expansion into space is the necessary means by which we are to develop our intellectual faculties to the utmost and perhaps in cooperation with ETI, achieve the maximum consciousness… (pp. 555-56)
Putnam and Horn cite the key role of Teilhard de Chardin, a famed Jesuit, in influencing the Vatican’s belief in extraterrestrial life. Chardin wrote:
… considering what we know now know about the number of “worlds” and their internal evolution, the idea of a single hominized planet in the universe has already become I fact … almost as inconceivable as that of a man who appeared with no generic relationship to the rest of the earth’s animal population. At an average of (at least) one human race per galaxy, that makes a total of millions of human races dotted all over the heavens (p. 288).
De Chardin’s influence over Catholic theology can be recognized in a homily by Pope Benedict in 2009 that Putnam and Horn cite as key evidence of Vatican’s preparations for the introduction of an extraterrestrial inspired theology:
The role of the priesthood is to consecrate the world so that it may become a living host, a liturgy: so that the liturgy may not be something alongside the reality of the world, but that the world itself shall become a living host, a liturgy. This is also the great vision of Teilhard de Chardin: in the end we shall achieve a true cosmic liturgy, when the cosmos becomes a living host. (p. 564)
As to the question of the identity of the extraterrestrials that the Catholic Church appears to be preparing for, Putnam and Horn are very clear:
… we have scant evidence that we are dealing with nuts-and-bolts-type craft, and even if so, it is not a matter of need, rather subterfuge to promote belief in space aliens camouflaging demonic entities. (p.231)
They describe the “space aliens camouflaging demonic entities” as fallen angels or “Watchers” that first landed on Earth at the biblical location of Mount Hermon. They go on to describe how once the fallen angels spawned a race of giants:
… the extraterrestrial beings that landed there and those that used women to birth the original giants called Anakim and Nephilim (and other abnormal creations in the Day of Noah (p. 469).
Putnam and Horn go on to endorse J.R Church who wrote: “Perhaps the original group of Nephilim were scouts for a much larger force of demonic angels who, under the leadership of Satan came to Earth after the Flood (p 469).” They claim that the atmosphere is the domain of these rebellious spirits or fallen angels:
Given that the biblical and occult sources agree, we have ample grounds to posit that the atmosphere – where the majority of strange sightings occur – is the realm of these rebel spirits. It seems inescapable that fallen angels are the source of some UAP or UFOs. (p. 512)
Finally, we get to the crux of Putnam’s and Horn’s book. This is where they believe that the Vatican is preparing its Catholic adherents to embrace extraterrestrial saviors who are “demons in disguise”:
Given that the Vatican holds sway to over 1 billion followers as well as influencing an even greater number of peoples, governments, and policies world-wide, and puny obstacles to their revised Christianity will thus hardly keep most of the world’s “spiritual” people from wholeheartedly embracing the alien serpent –saviors on their arrival (546-47).
What do we make of the fantastic claim by Putnam and Horn that the Vatican is embracing demons camouflaged as extraterrestrials as future saviors of the Church and humanity? Much of it is based on the skewed writings of UFO authors who ignore the extensive literature revealing the benign activities and intentions of many extraterrestrials visitors – far removed from the abduction phenomenon.
Putnam and Horn quote Richard Dolan and Bryce Zabel , authors of A.D. After Disclosure, who give serious credence to the idea of “demons camouflaged as extraterrestrials”:
If the Christians are right about how they interpret the UFO phenomenon, it is hoped that the rest of humanity will thank them for their stand against a demonic presence masking as extraterrestrials. If they are wrong, or even incomplete, in their analysis, they will be seen as obstructionist or even dangerous, refusing to see the truth that stares them in the face. (221)
As a widely cited UFO historian, Dolan displays his and his co-author’s blind side here in considering “a demonic presence masking as extraterrestrials” as a plausible evaluation of the extraterrestrial phenomenon. In an online extract from their book on the religious implications of extraterrestrial disclosure, it becomes clear that Dolan and Zabel only take seriously the abduction phenomenon for assessing the motivations of visiting extraterrestrials. They don’t consider evidence from early “contactee reports” where human looking “space brothers” were claimed to have arrived to help humanity navigate the perils of the nuclear age.
Initial reports of human-looking extraterrestrials were overwhelmingly benign and non-invasive, suggesting that the “space brothers” were highly advanced ethically as well as technologically. Dolan has written two earlier books on UFOs and the National Security State, in neither does he take seriously early contactee reports of friendly human alien contact. Zabel, co-creator of the television series Dark Skies, similarly focused on the abduction phenomenon and the invasive aspect of extraterrestrials behind it – again ignoring contactee reports entirely. Putnam and Horn, like Dolan and Zabel, focus on the invasive nature of the abduction phenomenon and the extraterrestrial entities behind it. This is a dangerously skewed position to take in attempting to evaluate the motivations of extraterrestrial visitors in general, let alone their impact on world religions.
In addition to putting a negative spin on the motivations of visiting extraterrestrial life based on data exclusively from the abduction phenomenon, Putnam and Horn are against the idea of there being possible alien christs that incarnated on other worlds:
The most compelling biblical argument for the uniqueness of terrestrial life is the incarnation. The Second Person of the Trinity, the One who brought the entire universe into existence (John 1:1-3, Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrew 1:1-2), became an everlasting member of the human race in the incarnation (John 1:14; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 7:24-25). He ascended to heaven bodily and sits on His throne as a man. This strongly counts against the existence of extraterrestrials and multiple incarnations on alien worlds. (p. 216).
Putnam’s and Horn’s dismissal of possible alien christs that incarnated on other worlds displays an astounding homo chauvinism. This leads to them concluding Exovaticana with the exhortation:
We … suggest aggressive preparation for an Antichristogenesis – an Alien Serpent Savior … it is obvious to all now that the Vatican has cleverly prepared for his coming… (pp. 556-57).
“Aggressive preparation” appears to be a codeword for a possible religious war where evangelical Christians will collaborate with UFO abduction researchers who take a negatively skewed approach in evaluating the motivations of alien visitors. High on this religious war agenda would be an effort to sabotage any constructive dialogue or cooperation with extraterrestrial life.
Putnam and Horn are very likely correct in their assessment that the Vatican and the Catholic Church is positioning itself to accept extraterrestrial visitors as “brothers in Christ.” In that regard, we might all be surprised by the future role to be taken by the Vatican in disclosing the existence of extraterrestrial life. Exovaticana, insofar as it presents the history of the Catholic Church’s position on extraterrestrial life is very informative and helpful.
Exovaticana is dangerous insofar as it skews data towards an overly negative assessment of the motivations of extraterrestrial visitors. Evidence clearly shows that not all alien visitors have behaved in ways that could be considered harmful to humanity’s vital interests, or violating the rights of individuals. A more balanced approach, as found in the new book Galactic Diplomacy: Getting to Yes with ET is needed – where a comprehensive evaluation of all data on extraterrestrial visitors is analyzed. This will help ensure that humanity moves harmoniously into a wider galactic society where our vital interests are respected, rather than precipitate a religious (interplanetary) war as Exovaticana appears to be advocating.
© Copyright 2013. Michael E. Salla, Ph.D.
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[June 16, 2013 – ExoNews TV] Nearly every day we hear news that we are not alone in this vast universe. Scientists are confirming the existence of exoplanets in the habitable regions of their suns. Scientific opinion has shifted from outright skepticism to curious optimism that extraterrestrial life will soon be confirmed to exist. More political leaders are disclosing what they know, or are willing to listen to evidence regarding extraterrestrials visiting our world. Captains of industry are meeting to discuss the implications of advanced extraterrestrial technologies in aerospace, biotechnology, energy production and more!
