The Vatican and UFOs: Is there a secret about aliens hidden in the Pope’s mysterious archives?

For centuries, the Vatican’s Secret Archive has been the subject of fascination for scholars.

They have wondered just what revelations are lying hidden in documents stored on what now consists of more than 50miles of shelves underground.

In 2020, Pope Francis opened up the files related to the papacy of the controversial Pope Pius XII, allowing researchers the chance to discover why he remained silent about the Nazi Holocaust.

But one claim that we might never know the truth of is the one made by former Pentagon official David Grusch in 2023, that Pius tipped off the US about an alien spacecraft that had crashed in Italy in the 1930s. 

He also alleged, in his interview with US cable network News Nation, that the Vatican ‘certainly’ knew about the existence of non-human intelligences on Earth. 

The claim was music to the ears of those who have long sought access to the Vatican’s archives in the hope they may contain information about UFOs.

Former UFO investigator Nick Pope, who worked for the Ministry of Defence until 2006, told MailOnline: ‘There have been persistent rumours that the Catholic Church knows some big secrets about UFOs, and that these forbidden truths might be hidden somewhere in the Vatican archives, accessible only by the Pope, a select few Cardinals, and other key personnel.’ 

Diana Walsh Pasulka, the author of 2019 bestseller American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology, has previously said that the archives are ‘filled’ with records of the paranormal – so the possibility that they might too contain UFO revelations has excited many. 

There was a flurry of excitement too when, in 2014, Pope Francis said he would baptise aliens if they came to the Vatican, saying: ‘Who are we to close doors?’

Before he resigned in April 2023, Mr Grusch worked for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).

His role was to act as the NRO’s representative when dealing with the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force.

The task force was specifically set up to investigate UFOs.

He claimed the first recovery of a UFO in Europe was in Magenta, Italy in 1933 and it was held by the government of dictator Benito Mussolini until 1944-1945, when Pope Pius tipped America off about it.

He said the UFO was partially intact and held at a secure airbase until the US retrieved it following the collapse of the fascist Italian regime.

‘They recovered a partially intact vehicle, and the Italian government moved it to a secure airbase in Italy until around 1944-1945.

‘The Pope back-channelled that, and told the Americans what the Italians had and we ended up scooping it.’

Grusch was then asked to clarify whether the Catholic Church was aware of ‘non-human’ existence on Earth and he replied: ‘Certainly’.

And on why his claims should be believed, he said: ‘I have the credentials, and I was an intelligence officer.’

But he was not able to provide evidence, claiming the documents and data were classified.

Journalist Ross Coulthart, who also interviewed Grusch, told News Nation that other unnamed sources had confirmed the whistleblower’s claims to him.

‘It’s a very difficult situation for the Vatican because if Mr Grusch is telling the truth—and I’m told he is—it’s a difficult thing for the Vatican to admit without the U.S. concurring,’ he said.

He added that he had spoken to someone who has been granted access to the Vatican’s archives and that documents that could back up Mr Grusch’s claims might be found there.

Marco Grilli, secretary to the prefect of the archives, appeared to rubbish the claim.

He told the Catholic News Service in June 2024: ‘I don’t know where [Grusch] got this information.’

And he likened emails the Vatican had received asking about the veracity of Grusch’s claims to requests to read the personal letters of Pontius Pilate or the Virgin Mary – neither are known to exist.

Mr Pope added: ‘An announcement about the existence of alien life, whether it’s a discovery by astronomers, or the UFO community’s holy grail of “Disclosure”, would have profound effects on people’s religious beliefs.

‘So it makes sense that the Catholic Church would have studied this in an attempt to get ahead of the narrative and control the narrative if they can. 

‘And if the archives contain proof of alien life, I can understand the secrecy. The idea that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and to redeem us, is the central plank of Catholic faith. 

‘The existence of other civilizations in the universe could fatally undermine this, because why wouldn’t Jesus have died for their sins too? 

‘And yet, we may find these other civilizations have totally different religions, or that they regard religion as primitive superstitious belief.’ 

Putting UFOs to one side, the archives are known to contain reports about paranormal events.

Professor Walsh Pasulka said to the CNS in 2024: ‘The historical record is filled with these kinds of events.

‘The people at the Vatican, they don’t even know where to look; it’s in their basements.’

Garry Nolan, a professor of medicine at Stanford University, added: ‘The Vatican is probably the oldest library system of paranormal or supernatural knowledge still extant.’

In 2008, the director of the Vatican Observatory, Jesuit Father Jose Funes insisted there was no conflict between faith and the possibility of what he called ‘extraterrestrial brothers’.

He told the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano: ‘Just as there is a multiplicity of creatures on earth, there can be other beings, even intelligent, created by God.

‘This is not in contrast with our faith because we can’t put limits on God’s creative freedom.’

That insistence has not stopped critics from claiming that the Vatican is keeping secrets about UFOs from the world. 

In 2009, the Vatican even held a conference on extraterrestrial life.

More than 30 astronomers, biologists, geologists and religious leaders attended to discuss the subject.  

In 2019, Pope Francis changed the name of the Church’s store of treasures to the Vatican Apostolic Archive. 

He said he wanted to remove the ‘negative’ connotations of the word ‘secret’ in its name. 

The official history of the archives dates back to 1612, the year the institution was founded by Pope Paul V.

But the shelves are loaded with parchments and papers dating back to the eighth century.

Gems in the archives that we know about include a 1585 document from the nuncio (papal ambassador) in Lisbon warning of a threat to shipping from Sir Francis Drake; a letter from Mary, Queen of Scots, a few weeks before her execution, and a parchment from England – complete with 81 official seals – asking why the Pope was taking so long to annul Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon.

Also preserved are a papal bull excommunicating Martin Luther and documents from the trial of Galileo.

Pope Francis’s decision to open the files on Pius XII proved a popular decision with scholars.

For decades, there had been question marks over why the wartime pope – who Hitler is believed to have thought about kidnapping – did not condemn the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis.

Pius XII, who headed the Catholic Church from 1939 until his death in 1958, never spoke out about the slaughter of six millions Jews in Nazi concentration camps across Europe.

Archbishop Sergio Pagano, the long-time ‘Prefect’ of the archives, told US outlet PBS last year: ‘During the war we know that the pope made a choice: He could not and would not speak.

‘He was convinced that an even worse massacre would have happened,’ Pagano said.

‘After the war, I would have expected a word more, for all these people who went to the gas chambers.’

The Vatican’s archives were entirely closed until 1881, when Pope Leo XIII gave scholars access for the first time.