If you want a book on the history and theology as far as the Catholic Church and aliens — ultramundane entities — a new book, Extraterrestrial Intelligence and the Catholic Faith: Are We Alone in the Universe with God and the Angels? — fits the bill. It’s a “deep dive” and unquestionably comprehensive, as far as Church teaching.

Is it pedagogical? It’s an academic book by a scholar named Paul Thigpen (author of the Manual for Spiritual Warfare). Erudition is his forte. One is not going to find titillating new UFO discoveries.

But the Church’s view of such matters?

Start with a few of the quotes on the back cover.

C.S. Lewis: “Our loyalty is due not to our species but to God. Those [extraterrestrials] who are, or can become, His sons, are our real brothers even if they have shells or tusks. It is spiritual, not biological, kinship that counts.”

• 

Saint John Chrysostom (fourth century): “Since one of the most wondrous and noble questions about Nature is whether there is one world or many, a question that the human mind desires to understand per see, it seems desirable for us to inquire about it.”

Saint Padre Pio: “The Lord certainly did not limit His glory to this small earth. On other planets other beings exist who did not sin and fall as we did.”

Pope Saint John Paul II: “Always remember: They [aliens] are children of God as are we.”

Those are eye-openers!

But caution here: if extraterrestrials exist, many of them in theory may be saintly. But at the same time, one has only to look at those classic alien “greys” and their menacing walnut-shaped eyes to know there are hazards. Many “alien” reports seem outright sinister.

Condemnation may not be the best immediate approach, but neither is immediate acceptance.

For our mastication.

Discern, discern.

For these great churchmen did not have access to the tens of thousands of reports in recent times — many less than pleasant. It’s a problem when, if not simply mischievous, an “ultramundane” entity is a damaging spirit in masquerade.

Some claim the Virgin of Medjugorje said there is life elsewhere (we have yet to see that verified). Maria Esperanza had a picture of what looked like a flying saucer in her home. Those who have near-death experiences sometimes describe seeing life on other planets.

As author Thigpen notes, “I think the extraterrestrial hypothesis best accounts for many UAP [unidentified aerial phenomena], and the diabolical hypothesis best accounts for some encounters. But humility requires that we be open to other possibilities for some of the phenomena observed: ultraterrestrials, perhaps; interdimensional beings (as some would insist) from another dimension of existence altogether that at times intersected with our own; or even time-traveling humans from the future (as still others have suggested). Such realities would not lie beyond the creative wisdom and power of our omniscient, omnipotent Creator.”

Oh, the universe: we haven’t even begun to comprehend our own planet, let alone countless others.

[resources: Extraterrestrial Intelligence and the Catholic Faith: Are We Alone in the Universe with God and the Angels? and Lying Wonders, Strangest Things]