Pope Francis Said He'd Convert Aliens to Christianity if They Wanted To

If E.T. the extraterrestrial were real and wanted to repent for sinning, he could. In fact, according to Pope Francis, he could be compelled by the power of Christ and straight up become Catholic.

On Monday, while delivering a homily on the first pagans to convert to Christianity, Pope France said that if, for whatever reason ,aliens arrived on Earth and they wanted to convert, he’d allow it.

From Vatican Radio:

“That was unthinkable. If—for example—tomorrow an expedition of Martians came, and some of them came to us, here … Martians, right? Green, with that long nose and big ears, just like children paint them … And one says, ‘But I want to be baptized!’ What would happen?”

Peter understands his error when a vision enlightens him to a fundamental truth: that which has been purified by God cannot be called “profane” by anyone. And in narrating these facts to the crowd that criticized him, the Apostle calms them all with this statement: “If then God gave them the same gift He gave to us when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?”

To be clear, the crux of his homily is that the Catholic Church is welcoming of everybody. It’s a very noble sentiment, but one that proves to be problematic. After all, if aliens exist, what does that say about the existence of Earth? And, as one commenter for the Independent noted, why would an alien species want to convert in the first place?

Fidel Martinez is an editor at Fusion.net. He’s also a Texas native and a lifelong El Tri fan.