'ET could exist, although there's no hard evidence' says Vatican's top astronomer 

ET could exist, but there is no hard evidence he does, the Vatican's top astronomer declared at the end of a Vatican conference on extraterrestrial life.

Father Jose Gabriel Funes, who led the week-long conference on astrobiology, said that extraterrestrial life was a valid area of investigation for the Catholic Church.

Father Funes said: 'Although astrobiology is a new and developing field, questions on the origins of life and the presence of life in the universe outside Earth are legitimate issues and merit serious consideration.

'It makes sense to see if other forms of life exist beyond the earth, but for the time being though there is no evidence to prove that such life does exist.'

The event was organised by the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences and attracted scientists, chemists, astronomers, biologists and clergy from all over the world to discuss the origins and evolution of life.

The fact the possibility of other life elsewhere other than Earth was discussed at the Vatican marks a radical shift in its views - 400 years ago it condemned astronomer Galileo Galilei as a heretic for saying the Earth was not the centre of the Universe.

Galileo was jailed,  but he fared better while Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake in 1600 for speculating that other worlds could be inhabited.

At the end of the conference the official conclusion of delegates was there are 'plausibly' millions of inhabitable planets in the Milky Way alone, itself one of billions of galaxies in the universe.  

It is not the first time that Father Funes, who is director of the esteemed Vatican Observatory, has expressed his belief in the possibility of extraterrestrial life forms.

Last year in an interview with the Vatican's official newspaper Osservatore Romano headlined 'Aliens are my brother' he said: 'Just as there is a multiplicity of creatures on Earth there could be other beings, intelligent ones, created by God.

'This does not clash with our faith because we cannot set limits on God's creative freedom. 

'To quote St Francis, if we view earthly creatures as our brothers and sisters, why can't we speak of a brother from another planet?'

In the interview, Father Funes, who took over at the Vatican Observatory in 2006, also suggested aliens might not need to be 'saved' to enter Heaven, especially if they were 'more evolved' than humans.

Bron: The Daily Mail