Little green men from outer space can be Catholics too!
Pope Francis, bending over backwards to strike an inclusionary tone for his church, joked that he’d welcome Martians into the fold and baptize them.
“Green men, with a long nose and big ears, like children draw,” Francis told worshipers during Mass at his modest Casa Santa Martha residence within the Vatican.
“If tomorrow, for example, an expedition of Martians arrives and some of them come to us … and if one of them says: ‘Me, I want to be baptized!’ what would happen?”
The down-to-earth Argentine pontiff said yes, of course, the spacemen should be embraced and treated as equals, according to reports by Vatican Radio and AFP.
Christians should never “close the door” to anyone seeking baptism, according to the leader of 1.2 billion Catholics.
In a slightly more realistic scenario, Francis said Monday that all earthly seekers of faith – such as kids of adults breaking church rules, such as living together outside of marriage – must be embraced and baptized.