Back in November 2009, The Vatican completed a five day conference where scientists convened to discuss the detection and implications of extraterrestrial life. The conference itself was officially convened by the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences, chaired by its religious leader Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, and was held on private Vatican grounds from November 6-10. The Vatican’s openness to discussion of extraterrestrial life is no accident. It is part of an openness policy secretly adopted by the United Nations in February 2008. In fact, the Vatican is playing a leading role in preparing the world for extraterrestrial disclosure.

For most observers, the conference was an innovative scientific gathering sanctioned by the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences to show the Holy See’s support for modern science in the detection of extraterrestrial life. The conference primarily focused on the detection of primitive extraterrestrial life forms, and featured presentations from nearly 30 international experts in astronomy, physics and biology.

Discussion of the implications of intelligent extraterrestrial life, both scientific and theological, did not appear prominently in the conference agenda. One of the presenters, however, Prof Paul Davies commented on the religious implications of discovering intelligent extraterrestrial life: “If you look back at the history of Christian debate on this, it divides into two camps. There are those that believe that it is human destiny to bring salvation to the aliens, and those who believe in multiple incarnations,” Davies pointed out that the multiple incarnations theory, the idea that multiple examples of Jesus Christ would be found in the universe “is a heresy in Catholicism.”

Read the full article here: Phantoms and Monsters

This report came out in the Times Online this week:

“Medieval knights hid and secretly venerated The Holy Shroud of Turin for more than 100 years after the Crusades, the Vatican said yesterday in an announcement that appeared to solve the mystery of the relic’s missing years. The Knights Templar, an order which was suppressed and disbanded for alleged heresy, took care of the linen cloth, which bears the image of a man with a beard, long hair and the wounds of crucifixion, according to Vatican researchers. ”

The shroud is often in the news with both believers and skeptics vehemently arguing for and against its authenticity.

Does this new announcement change anything, or is it a victory for the believers?

Look at the links below regarding our other reports on the Knights Templars and their recent dealings with the Vatican.

Read more about this story at:

Times Online: Knights Templar hid the Shroud of Turin, says Vatican

It has been reported this week that the successors of the Knights Templar are launching a legal battle against the Vatican to restore their good name and to highlight the wrongs done to them by the church.

The Knights Templar were a powerful but secretive group of warrior monks during the Middle Ages. The order was founded in 1099 by Hugues de Payns, a French knight, to protect pilgrims on the road to the Holy Land. Their headquarters were in the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount – hence their name.

Following the fall of Jerusalem to the Muslims in 1244, rumours abounded that the Knights were heretics who worshipped idols and held secret, evil initiation rites. In 1307, King Philip IV “the Fair” of France, in desperate need of money, ordered the arrest and torture of all Templars. Their leader Jacques de Molay was tortured and burnt at the stake.

All lands and assets belonging to members of the order were confiscated by the Vatican and King Philip.

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Some months ago a secret document was found in the Vatican which proved that Pope Clement V did not declare them as being heretics and furthermore absolved them of any heresy. It seems that the the suppression of the order was more about the pope’s politics in order to pacify Philip.

Despite the order’s brutal apparent suppression, its legacy has been claimed by numerous successor organisations such as the ‘Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymitani’, which is recognized by UNESCO. These societies today are about humanitarian and charity work, although they do maintain some religious sites and buildings.
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There is much mystery and speculation surrounding the Order of the Knights Templar. Did they find and are they the guardians of the Holy Grail? Were they heretics?

We may soon be able to get some answers to these and many other questions. The Vatican is about to release a new book, Processus contra Templarios, which will be published by the Vatican’s Secret Archive on Oct 25. It promises to restore the reputation of the Templars, whose leaders were burned as heretics when the order was dissolved in 1314.

The Knights Templar were a powerful but secretive group of warrior monks during the Middle Ages. The order was founded in 1099 by Hugues de Payns, a French knight, to protect pilgrims on the road to the Holy Land. Their headquarters were in the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount – hence their name.

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Following the fall of Jerusalem to the Muslims in 1244, rumours abounded that the Knights were heretics who worshipped idols and held secret, evil initiation rites. In 1307, King Philip IV “the Fair” of France, in desperate need of money, ordered the arrest and torture of all Templars. Their leader Jacques de Molay was tortured and burnt at the stake.
(more…)