Baptise Martians, says Francis

No one should be barred from the sacraments, Pope Francis insisted this week, and to emphasise his point he said that even an extraterrestrial requesting baptism should be welcomed, writes Elena Curti.

The Pope was delivering a homily on the initial resistance from St Peter and others to baptising Gentiles and in doing so expounded on the offer of God’s grace to all. His reference to Martians was humorous but made a serious point.

“If tomorrow an expedition of Martians were to land, and some of them came to us, Martians right? Green with long noses and big ears, as children paint them. If one of these were to say: ‘I want to be baptised’, what would happen?”

On the “internal crisis” that faced the Early Church over the issue of whether Gentiles should be baptised, Pope Francis said St Peter was enlightened when a vision showed him that what has been purified by God cannot be called “profane” by anyone.

“When the Lord shows us the way, who are we to say ‘no Lord, it isn’t prudent’, to close doors?”