{"id":270056,"date":"2026-06-17T21:23:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T21:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/270056\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T21:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T21:23:10","slug":"father-gibino-wants-to-believe-brooklyn-priest-says-if-ufos-exist-they-are-part-of-gods-creation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/270056\/","title":{"rendered":"Father Gibino Wants to Believe:\u00a0Brooklyn Priest\u00a0Says If UFOs Exist,\u00a0They Are Part of God\u2019s Creation\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"People are pictured in a file photo using night vision goggles to look at the\u00a0evening\u00a0sky during an\u00a0Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena\u00a0(UAP) tour in the desert outside Sedona, Ariz. UAPs\u00a0\u2014\u00a0once known as UFOs\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and the intelligence behind their existence has long been a source of public fascination, but Catholic theologians and scientists have also been thinking about their implications on how humanity sees itself in relation to its Creator. (Photo: Mike Blake, Reuters, via OSV)<\/p>\n

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Father Joseph Gibino\u00a0is a busy man, so he\u00a0cherishes his vacations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He has several responsibilities in the Diocese of Brooklyn, including vicar for evangelization and catechesis. He is also the pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Parish<\/a> in Brooklyn Heights and the rector of the Cathedral Basilica of St. James in Downtown Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

Recently, he took on host duties for the new show, \u201cFaith Explained,\u201d which airs on NET-TV.<\/p>\n

When he has downtime,\u00a0Father Gibino\u00a0hits the road,\u00a0but with\u00a0another identity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He is also Dr. Joseph Gibino, an anthropologist with pre-doctoral work at UC Berkeley and his doctorate from the University of Rochester.<\/p>\n

His specialty is \u201csymbolic\u201d anthropology, which falls under the umbrella of sociocultural anthropology.<\/p>\n

\"\"Father Joseph Gibino enjoys touring UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including those with UFO speculation attached. He is shown here on Easter Island with Father Frank Schwarz (left), pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Forest Hills. (Photo: Courtesy of Father Joseph Gibino)<\/p>\n

As such, he has toured mysterious UNESCO World Heritage Sites, like the mountainous Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in Peru, Easter Island off the coast of Chile with its massive stone-faced Moai statues, and the Great Pyramids of Egypt. He also visited the Angkor Wat temple complex near Siem Reap, Cambodia.<\/p>\n

Although these sites have another draw for him \u2014 they\u2019re also focal points for \u201cancient astronaut\u201d theories about unidentified flying objects and extraterrestrial life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll just devour anything that\u2019s out there,\u201d Father Gibino said of UFO lore. \u201cI would have loved to have been the first priest in space. A lot of people have told me I already am the first priest in space!\u201d<\/p>\n

Welcome to Father Gibino\u2019s\u00a0other\u00a0wheelhouse, where the\u00a0comprehension\u00a0of human origins (anthropology) intersects with ufology \u2014 the study of\u00a0unidentified flying objects\u00a0(UFOs)\u00a0or,\u00a0in\u00a0modern terms,\u00a0unidentified\u00a0anomalous\u00a0phenomena (UAPs).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The priest\/anthropologist\u00a0added, however, that while some people see him as\u00a0\u201ca nut job,\u201d\u00a0his perspective on\u00a0UAPs\u00a0is\u00a0\u201cbalanced.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

First, Father Gibino explained that he does not know if UFOs or extraterrestrial beings are real. Still, he\u2019s open to the possibility, even though the Church has no official dogma on life beyond Earth.<\/p>\n

However, Father Gibino is convinced that creation has but one source \u2014 God.<\/p>\n

\"\"Father Joseph Gibino toured the temple complex of Angkor Wat near Siem Reap, Cambodia. Ufologists suggest the temples align with astronomical features that could not have been built without extraterrestrial help. (Photo: Courtesy of Father Joseph Gibino)<\/p>\n

But\u00a0he added\u00a0that\u00a0while the Church has no official dogma on\u00a0extraterrestrials, the idea of them is\u00a0consistent\u00a0with Church doctrine on creation, a stance taken by the Vatican\u2019s own astronomer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Catholic tradition,\u201d he\u00a0continued,\u00a0\u201cthere has always been a view that life is life, and,\u00a0therefore, since God creates all life, all life has\u00a0an inherent dignity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo,\u00a0from a theological and philosophical standpoint, I am very open to the possibility that somewhere out in the cosmos there is life created by God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other people, meanwhile, are convinced\u00a0extraterrestrials\u00a0do\u00a0exist.<\/p>\n

A furor over \u201calien\u201d life has accelerated in recent years as \u201cwhistleblowers\u201d clamored for transparent UAP \u201cdisclosure\u201d from the U.S. government and its military.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve\u00a0alleged\u00a0that governments\u00a0throughout the world, including the Vatican,\u00a0possess\u00a0evidence of UFO sightings and recovered\u00a0extraterrestrial\u00a0technology.<\/p>\n

Father Gibino\u2019s specialty in sociocultural anthropology is \u201csymbolic\u201d anthropology, which explores how people construct meaning, knowledge, and reality.<\/p>\n

To that end, he has researched how ancient cultures used symbols, rituals, and myths to make sense of their worlds and determine what is real \u2014 such as how they came into being.<\/p>\n

Such questions mirror the intellectual challenges posed to Catholic seminarians as they pursue undergraduate degrees in philosophy.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Lights, Camera, Catechesis: Father Joseph Gibino\u2019s Show Takes on Big Questions in Brooklyn<\/a><\/p>\n

Father Gibino said he has been enthralled with UFOs since he was a kid. He watched a lot of low-budget, black-and-white science fiction movies, and some classics, like \u201cThe Day the Earth Stood Still,\u201d and voraciously read the works of acclaimed sci-fi authors Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov.<\/p>\n

In the 1970s and 1980s, he enjoyed the movies \u201cClose Encounters of the Third Kind\u201d and \u201cStarman\u201d for their sympathetic portrayals of the mysterious aliens, as opposed to the marauding invaders in \u201cWar of the Worlds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armed with his credentials in anthropology, philosophy, and theology, he set out to explore the UNESCO sites, including those with reputations for alleged extraterrestrial influences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you add layer upon layer of science and theology together \u2014 now you\u2019re beginning to get a cosmos that is so much more interesting than just a B-movie from the 1950s,\u201d Father Gibino said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, he\u00a0asserted,\u00a0the existing\u00a0theories\u00a0of\u00a0extraterrestrial\u00a0influence on ancient\u00a0cultures\u00a0are\u00a0not\u00a0definitive\u00a0for him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For example,\u00a0the Moai statues on\u00a0Easter Island\u00a0and\u00a0the Great Pyramids\u00a0were noted\u00a0by\u00a0Erich von D\u00e4niken in his 1968 book \u201cChariots of the Gods?\u201d as being\u00a0monuments that required greater technology than ancient cultures had\u00a0\u2014 the\u00a0kind of\u00a0tech\u00a0only mustered by\u00a0an advanced species capable of space travel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Father Gibino is shown here in another photo from Easter Island. (Photo: Courtesy of Father Joseph Gibino)<\/p>\n

That thesis has carried over into modern documentary series like \u201cAncient Aliens,\u201d which casts Machu Picchu and Angkor Wat under speculation of extraterrestrial influences.<\/p>\n

Other shows have explored the possibility of underwater UAPs, and Malta, south of Sicily, has become a hotspot for alleged sightings, Father Gibino said.<\/p>\n

All very fascinating, he said, but be careful.<\/p>\n

Recent discoveries suggest that some ancient cultures were no slouches at civil engineering, Father Gibino said.<\/p>\n

For example, he said, Hollywood has made movies like \u201cThe Ten Commandments,\u201d showing that the pyramids were built with slave labor.<\/p>\n

However, Archaeological evidence taken from the laborers\u2019 villages suggests they were well-organized, well-trained, and well-fed artisans who were paid for their work, Father Gibino said.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Angels or Aliens? Some Researchers Say Vatican Archives Hold UFO Secrets<\/a><\/p>\n

Likewise,\u00a0he added,\u00a0archaeological evidence shows that the Rapa Nui\u00a0on Easter Island\u00a0had an elaborate pulley system to \u201cwalk\u201d the Moai statues\u00a0upright\u00a0from the quarry\u00a0where they were cut\u00a0\u2014\u00a0not\u00a0extraterrestrial\u00a0magnet technology, as some ufologists suggest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was primitive technology,\u201d\u00a0Father Gibino\u00a0said of the pulley system,\u00a0\u201cbut still technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Therefore, Father Gibino said, he has yet to see definitive evidence of extraterrestrial life, so any UAP theories should be thoroughly researched.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of very important science and theology that has to inform the discussion,\u201d Father Gibino said. \u201cAt the same time, it takes a lot of devotion to the enterprise of understanding what extraterrestrial life does mean, as opposed to what Hollywood wants us to believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The possibilities, meanwhile, still enthrall him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d\u00a0like for\u00a0it to be true\u00a0\u2014\u00a0I just don\u2019t know,\u201d Father Gibino said. \u201cBut,\u00a0quite honestly, if we were to find intelligent life elsewhere, doesn\u2019t that just more reflect God\u2019s infinite creativity?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Temple of the Sun (Torre\u00f3n) at Machu Picchu is a two-part ashlar structure in the upper town, with carved platforms and solar-aligned openings. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People are pictured in a file photo using night vision goggles to look at the\u00a0evening\u00a0sky during an\u00a0Unidentified Anomalous…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-270056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}