As public fascination with UFOs continues to grow, some Catholic thinkers — and even Vice President J. D. Vance — are suggesting that the mystery may be more spiritual than scientific.
Speaking on a podcast earlier this year, Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, said he does not believe unexplained aerial phenomena are necessarily extraterrestrial beings.
“I don’t think they’re aliens, I think they’re demons,” Vance said, according to reporting from The Free Press.
Vance clarified that he was not speaking from classified knowledge or intelligence briefings. Instead, he framed his comments through the lens of religion and the Christian understanding of spiritual realities.
“Every great world religion, including Christianity, the one I believe in, has understood there are weird things out there,” he said. “There’s a lot of good out there, but there’s also some evil out there.”
His remarks come amid renewed public interest in UFOs — now often called “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” or UAPs — following years of military footage releases, congressional hearings, and statements from government officials.
The Free Press recently explored the topic in a discussion with Diana Pasulka and Ross Douthat, both Catholics who have publicly examined the religious implications of UFO claims.
Pasulka, a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and author of American Cosmic, has studied UFO culture as a modern spiritual phenomenon. According to The Free Press, she has examined alleged UFO crash sites and researched historical material in Vatican archives while exploring how belief in UFOs intersects with religion and technology.
Douthat explained that his own interest in the subject began after reports published by The New York Times in the late 2010s highlighted military footage and testimony from Navy pilots.
“I’m a Catholic, I’m interested in religion, and I’m interested in religious experience,” Douthat said. According to The Free Press interview, he believes some aspects of UFO encounters resemble “extremely bizarre forms of spiritual and supernatural experience.”
Douthat also noted that what makes the issue difficult to dismiss outright is the growing attention from lawmakers and officials who are not typically associated with conspiracy theories.
“It’s a very strange world where my sense is that people as diverse as Chuck Schumer and Marco Rubio think that there might be something sort of hidden inside the vastness of the U.S. national security state related to this phenomena,” Douthat said.
For Catholics, the Church has never officially taught that extraterrestrial life does or does not exist. However, Catholic theology does affirm the existence of angels and demons, along with the reality of spiritual deception.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that Satan and other demons are fallen angels who seek to lead humanity away from God. At the same time, the Church also urges caution against superstition, occult practices, and unhealthy fascination with the paranormal.
Many Catholic theologians have warned against treating alleged UFO encounters as a substitute religion or source of spiritual truth. Instead, they encourage the faithful to remain grounded in prayer, the sacraments, Scripture, and the teachings of the Church.
As governments continue investigating unexplained aerial sightings, Catholics may continue asking deeper questions: Are these simply misunderstood natural or technological phenomena? Could some experiences involve psychological or spiritual dimensions? Or are people searching for meaning in a culture increasingly disconnected from God?
For now, even those most curious about the phenomenon admit they do not have definitive answers. But the discussion itself reveals something important — that in an age of uncertainty, many people are once again wrestling with the reality of the unseen world.
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