Given our current cultural “disclosure” moment, the 1997 film Contact, based on Carl Sagan’s 1985 novel, has taken on a strangely prophetic quality. The film explores humanity’s apparent encounter with extraterrestrial intelligence in a way that creates an ambiguous tension between science, faith, skepticism, transcendence, existential isolation, and the deep longing not to be a cosmic orphan—a tension that feels quite relevant right now. What captures the human imagination is not solely the persistence of such ideas, but their increasingly spiritual and mythological character. In the West, “disclosure” seems to be less a scientific question and more of one about meaning and transcendence, especially within a culture that does know where to look to find them.

A Cultural Moment

Nearly thirty years later, its themes are not solely confined to science fiction. Indeed, they have found new life. From congressional hearings on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP, aka UFOs), to the testimonies of military officials, the Department of War’s first release of UAP files on May 8, 2026, and its second release on May 22, 2026, have drastically transformed mere speculation into a serious cultural fascination. “Disclosure,” that is, the anticipated unveiling of hidden truths about alien life and UFO phenomena have radically moved away from the fringes of popular culture into polite dinner conversation. To the point that even astrophysicist and host of a modern version of Sagan’s critically acclaimed Cosmos, Neil deGrasse Tyson, has suggested that the question is no longer merely whether humanity is alone, but whether humanity is “ready,” reflecting the growing mainstream fascination with the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligence and in light of his recently released, Take Me to Your Leader.

Catholic polymath Blaise Pascal, in his posthumously titled Pensées, warned that the vastness of the cosmos consumes humans with dread, and wrote, “The eternal silence of these infinite spaces terrifies me.” He also viewed humanity’s fascination with other worlds as a form of divertissement: a way to avoid confronting our own spiritual emptiness and need for God, the only one who can fill that vacuum.

Ephraim Radner has helpfully cautioned that such fascination can signal our own spiritual alienation, but this important moment in modern history invites a broader theological reflection.

The Christian Perspective

The modern framing of the question, “Are we alone?” often assumes a purely material universe. Yet from a Christian perspective, humanity has never been alone in creation, for God remains immanent in His creation. Holy Scripture and Catholic tradition have always affirmed the existence of angels and demons, beings of pure intellect. However, there have never been any direct, concrete pronouncements on the existence and nature of extraterrestrial beings. No church dogma on the issue. What it comes down to is an issue of hermeneutics, a broader interpretational framework, metaphysical reasoning, and evidence. Not any settled doctrine.

Even though St. Thomas Aquinas never directly addressed the question of extraterrestrial intelligences, he does, however, insist that divine power cannot be defined by our intellectual and imaginative limitations. Catholic theologians like Karl Rahner remained open to the possibility, while others such as the priest-theologian and physicist Stanley Jaki warned that an unhealthy fascination with the possible existence of extraterrestrial intelligences ran the risk of operating as a substitute mythology for a secular age becoming more and more estranged from transcendence. In his essay, “Extraterrestrials, or Better Be Moonstruck?,” Jaki remarked, many “dream about extraterrestrials, because they are afraid to be alone.”

Lutheran theologian Ted Peters, an authority in the science-religion interaction who serves on the Advisory Council of METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence) and authored the book UFOs: God’s Chariots? has claimed that the discovery of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe would not undermine Christianity. Instead, he argues that it could function as a way of deepening a Christian’s amazement with the vastness of God’s creation.

Christological Questions

Theological openness inevitably raises profound Christological questions. For instance, if we grant the existence of intelligent interdimensional beings, would Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection on Earth apply universally across the cosmos? n response, I believe there are three broad possibilities that emerge: extraterrestrial beings may never have fallen into sin at all; Christ’s earthly incarnation and sacrifice may possess a cosmic and universally redemptive significance; or God may relate salvifically to rational creatures elsewhere in ways not yet fully understood.

Jesuit astronomer José Funes, former director of the Vatican Observatory, has similarly suggested that intelligent extraterrestrial beings may never have fallen into sin and therefore may have no need of redemption at all. Many Catholic and Orthodox theologians, however, continue to maintain that Christ’s earthly sacrifice was cosmic, definitive, and once-for-all, extending universally across creation itself. My former theology professor at Saint Paul’s University, James Pambrun, likewise maintained that Christ’s redemptive work possesses a universal and cosmic significance extending beyond humanity alone.
Still, others, such as William Lane Craig, has speculated that extraterrestrial civilizations, if they exist, could hypothetically involve distinct incarnational acts or forms of divine revelation. Even St. Thomas Aquinas himself entertained the metaphysical possibility that the divine Word could assume more than one created nature, insisting that “the power of a divine person is infinite and cannot be limited to anything created” (ST 3, q. 7, a. 3). Karl Rahner likewise argued for the possibility of multiple incarnations, even though his own theology affirmed the cosmic finality of Christ’s Incarnation, and redemptive sacrifice.

Spiritual Realities

Some Catholic thinkers have cautioned that the modern UFO phenomenon increasingly resembles a substitute spirituality, as is found in the bizarre “UFO sect” known as Raëlism. In a recent interview, Steven Greer, a prominent UFO disclosure advocate and founder of the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI), has increasingly framed the UFO phenomenon in metaphysical and spiritual terms. In recent interviews, Greer has carefully distinguished between biological extraterrestrials from other star systems, man-made UFO simulations, paranormal or “interdimensional” phenomena, and spiritual entities such as angels or demons, while also linking his teenage near-death experience to later interests in meditation, consciousness, and extraterrestrial contact. More recently, Vice President JD Vance suggested that at least some phenomena commonly described as UFOs or “nonhuman intelligence” may be better understood in spiritual or preternatural terms rather than as biological extraterrestrials from other planets.

On the opposite side of the spectrum of Greer, Catholic author Daniel O’Connor, in his writings and videos, has warned that UFOs and aliens function as a form of deception, not unlike the deception of the ancient serpent in Genesis that led to the fall of man. O’Connor is highly critical of the views of theologians who demonstrate an openness to extraterrestrial life. On the other hand, Ted Peters has cautioned against reducing the entire phenomenon to purely demonic explanations, arguing that Christians should approach such questions with both discernment and theological humility.

Hollywood in general and directors such as Steven Spielberg through films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. have played no small role in shaping popular consciousness on extraterrestrials and UFO phenomena. Furthermore, sci-fi sagas such as Star Wars and Star Trek have been fundamental in conditioning us as a society to accept that we are not physically alone in the vastness of the cosmos. In sharp contrast, films such as Fire in the Sky, based on the alleged abduction experiences of Travis Walton, have instilled fear with portraying extraterrestrial encounters as a terrifying, invasive, and deeply unsettling experiences. Spielberg’s latest film, released on June 12, 2026, Disclosure Day, suggests that the language of “contact” and “disclosure” continues to function as a form of modern folklore.

In Contact, astronomer Ellie Arroway, played by Jodie Foster, encounters an intelligence that takes the form of her deceased father, blurring the line between technological contact, spiritual experience, memory, and longing, one that evokes the ancient prohibition against necromancy. The entity presents itself less as a conqueror than as a kind of cosmic mediator or “caretaker,” initiating humanity into a vast interstellar communion that has allegedly operated “for billions of years.” One may ponder why the interdimensional being needs to assume the appearance of Arroway’s father. What was Sagan suggesting here? One cannot help but recall Scripture’s warning that “even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Similar concerns have also been raised by exorcists such as Fr. Carlos Martins and Chad Ripperger, who have suggested that at least some alleged alien encounters may be better understood through the lens of spiritual deception rather than extraterrestrial visitation.

The concern is not only confined to Catholics and Protestants. For instance, the late Orthodox Georgian monk, Gabriel Urgebadze, who suffered persecution under Soviet rule, warned that humanity may one day “look to the heavens for salvation” rather than to Christ. Likewise, in his 1975 book, Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future, the Russian Orthodox monk Fr. Seraphim Rose argued that UFO phenomena increasingly functioned as a form of spiritual deception for a modern culture that no longer believed in angels and demons. However one chooses to interpret warnings of this nature, they point to an unchanging spiritual reality, namely, that humans long for transcendence, meaning, and communion that extends beyond themselves.

Conclusion: Humility and Hope

To me, this is why the question of the existence of higher physical beings aside from ourselves continues to fascinate us—especially in a culture that has progressively abandoned traditional beliefs. Personally, the question of extraterrestrial intelligences has long fascinated me, just as the existence and nature of angels and demons have. Nonetheless, I remain convinced that we must pursue truth above fascination, and that be done theologically, philosophically, and scientifically.
For a culture devoid of a personal God who grounds an objective moral law, aliens can quite readily act as substitute mythology, one that can provide revelation, enlightenment, and even salvation from “above.” It is in this sense that “disclosure” starts to resemble a secular apocalypse, complete with hidden truths, mysterious intermediaries, and expectations of transformation and new beginnings.

Whether intelligent beings exist elsewhere in creation, whether benevolent, malevolent, or misunderstood altogether, Christians are called above all to humility. In the Book of Job, God responds to humanity’s quest for definitive answers not by revealing every mystery of creation, but by asking: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” God is under no obligation to disclose every act of Creation or providence. If intelligent creatures exist elsewhere in the cosmos, that reality belongs first to His wisdom rather than ours.

Christians therefore must resist two temptations: first, the assumption that every extraordinary claim must conform to our preconceived notions or expectations of the faith; second, the naïveté that uncritically embraces every extraordinary claim as genuine. Scripture commands us to “test the spirits” (1 John 4:1). Whatever may or may not exist elsewhere in creation, authentic truth will never lead away from Christ, but toward Him. And for this reason, we are never truly alone, for we are infinitely loved by Christ.