Eduardo Russo, a UFO investigator from Turin, has spoken at
length to Monsignor Corrado Balducci, who contributed an
interview to my new book Confirmation. Mr. Russo has gotten
from him precisely the same story that I did when I spoke to
him to determine that the translation of the interview was
correct. This is Mr. Russo's report:
The story has been widely circulating in the last two weeks,
telling of "Vatican theologist" Corrado Balducci having been
on Italian national TV as many as five times in the last few
months in order to openly claim and admit that ET's exist,
have souls and - most extraordinary of all - the Vatican
knows it, studies them and collect data via a secret
commission.
I have been asked to comment and have done so publicly,
telling nothing of that sort ever happened, but:
- Corrado Balducci is a known theologist but not a Vatican
theologist, nor a spokesman for the Vatican;
- though a frequent guest at TV programs on a variety of
subjects, UFOs and ET's included, his own personal opinions
about the matter have been spread over several years, and
there's nothing new now.
Some of the people originally diffusing the story, notably
Richard Boylan, chose to attack me personally for having said
so, and challenged my claims.
The most simple and logical thing to do was to ask directly
Corrado Balducci.
This I did yesterday, Thursday 15 April, in a very long (40
minutes) phone call.
He was at first surprised, then amused, at learning of the
story as it is circulating on the Internet.
He asked me to collect and send him copy of it all, for his
own files, and offered me his answers as of the many
questions I asked him.
Here is a synopsis, in order to close and settle the matter
once and for all.
1) He is no Vatican theologist
Corrado Balducci explained me in detail that he is just one of
the thousands theologists in Italy (most younger Catholic
priests have got a degree in theology) and no special one. He
is not working at the Vatican and is retired now. (WS Note:
He was in the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith
when he gave the interview that is in my book.)
Moreover, no such thing as a "Vatican theologist" does exist:
the nearest thing would be the "theologist for the Holy
Father" (an elderly archbishop theologist acting as a
consultant to the Pope).
2) He is not a member of any Vatican commission on ET
contacts, which does not exist. (WS Note: I also asked him
about this and got the same answer.)
He laughed a lot about the notion itself of a secret Vatican
commission on ET contacts, which he told me he felt sure
was non-existent, even if he is not working at the Vatican
(but he's got many many friends an colleagues therein and he
told me he would have known).
He authorized me to formally deny, in his own name, that
either he has ever been member of such commission or that
he ever heard of it.
As of the rumour that Vatican Embassies would collect ET
contacts data and pass it on to the Vatican, he told me they
have better and more important things to do, and nothing of
that sort is even remotely believable.
3) He is not studying UFOs or ET contacts
He insisted he is specialized just in demonology, and his
present concerns are about New Age beliefs and new
religions. UFOs and ET's are not his own subject, he never
wrote or presented the Vatican any document on that
subject ("not even two lines"). (WS Note: His thoughts on
the subject, however, are brilliant and quite amazingly
insightful.)
His own present opinion as of UFOs is that we must trust
testimonies, hence we cannot deny something is being seen.
His own present opinion as of ET intelligent beings is that, IF
THEY EXIST and IF WE EVER MAKE CONTACT with them,
they MIGHT well be beings superior to us as of spirituality. IF
THAT IS TRUE, a contact might even be desirable for us.
4) He has not been speaking about UFO/ET on TV so
frequently as claimed
He does not recall having been a TV guest on the UFO/ET
subject as many as five times in a few months, though he
has probably be in a few years.
5) He never spoke in the name of the Vatican
All that he has been saying about UFOs or ET beings, on TV
or elsewhere, has always been his own personal opinion or
even some wild hypotheses based upon logic and his own
feelings. He does not feel either qualified or authorized to
speak on behalf of the Vatican, which would do so in much
more formal ways. Nor did he express official or unofficial
opinions of the Vatican hierarchy.
6) He never released any interview to "Nonsiamosoli"
He was flabbergasted at learning a whole series of out-of-
context quotations of his have been sold as an "interview" in
Giorgio Bongiovanni's "Nonsiamosoli" bulletin and website,
since he has always had a very bad opinion about
Bongiovanni and his group and even confronted him on TV
(ironically: in one of those emissions quoted by the ongoing
story!) and told publically he did not believe Bongiovanni's
stygmates came from God.
But he remembers having released a TV interview to Michael
Hesemann, last year, and telling the same opinions of his,
reported above. He wondered if that might be the original
source, though largely deformated in the subsequently
circulated story. (WS Note: This is the interview that
appears in Confirmation)
What remains is the fact that the story of the official Vatican
statements on the ET's, as circulated on the Internet, was
definitely a hoax.
Another fact is that the real truth was not found by those
rumour-mongers eager to promote just every wild story
without bothering to check their sources, but by serious-
minded ufologists. (WS: How true!)
