Yet another story today that builds on Pope Benedict’s recent discussion of faith and science. The Vatican’s chief astronomer says that believing in extra-terrestrials doesn’t contradict religious faith. Here’s a bit from the AP story, as printed on Yahoo! News:

“How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?” Funes said. “Just as we consider earthly creatures as ‘a brother,’ and ’sister,’ why should we not talk about an ‘extraterrestrial brother’? It would still be part of creation.”

In the interview by the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Funes said that such a notion “doesn’t contradict our faith” because aliens would still be God’s creatures. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like “putting limits” on God’s creative freedom, he said.

What I love best about this article is that the church reminds us that science and faith (or religion) are not at odds with each. Love it.

PS: Want to know what the Vatican’s chief astronomer does? Check out the Vatican Observatory web site.