EXCLUSIVE Vatican's secret links to UFOs laid bare as Pope Francis' successor is urged to share 'the truth'

Daily Mail​

23-04-2025

The Vatican's secret archives have long been a magnet for mystery - and now, alien intrigue.
Sprawling across more than 50 miles of underground shelving, these heavily guarded documents have fueled wild speculation for centuries.
But some researchers now believe the Holy See could be sitting on the biggest secret of all: proof of extraterrestrial life.
As outlandish as it sounds, recent testimony by former US intelligence insiders claim the Vatican and American government have worked together to investigate, cover up and, most shockingly, study, UFOs.
Following the death of Pope Francis at age 88 on Easter Monday, UFO investigator and filmmaker Mark Christopher Lee is calling on the next pontiff to come clean.
Lee, who has spent three decades studying the links between religion, history and alien phenomena, claims the Vatican may be harboring 'hundreds' of classified files on UFO sightings - some possibly dating back centuries.
'If the Church is truly committed to spiritual truth and human enlightenment, then it must no longer suppress information that could fundamentally reshape our understanding of our place in the cosmos,' Lee said in a statement.
He believes many divine encounters described in religious texts, including the Bible, could in fact be misinterpreted alien sightings. And he's not alone in that theory.
UFO researcher and film maker Mark Christopher Lee theorizes that certain divine encounters detailed in the Bible and other religious texts may have actually been alien sightings
One event Lee is desperate to reexamine is the infamous Third Secret of Fatima.
In 1917, three young Portuguese shepherds claimed to have seen a glowing apparition in the sky. The children, and the Vatican, have always maintained it was the Virgin Mary.
But Lee argues otherwise.
'If you read their original descriptions, what they wrote down, it's actually like orbs of light in the sky,' he told the Daily Mail.
'This was not the Virgin Mary,' he said previously. 'This was a non-human intelligence trying to communicate with us, and the Vatican knows it.'
In 2000, the Church released what it claimed was the full text of the so-called Third Secret. But many experts, including Lee, remain unconvinced.
'There are definitely secrets in the Vatican,' he insisted.
Recent testimony by former US spies appears to back him up.
David Grusch, a decorated Air Force officer-turned-UFO whistleblower, claimed in a 2023 interview that the Catholic Church has been aware of alien life for decades.
According to him, the Italian government recovered a crashed UFO during Mussolini's fascist regime, and the Vatican helped cover it up.
Grusch alleged that Pope Pius XII even 'backchanneled' details of the incident to American intelligence officials, who then swooped in and seized the craft.
When asked point blank if he believed the Church knew about the existence of extraterrestrials, Grusch didn't hesitate. 'Certainly,' he said.
As for what may be driving the Vatican to withhold its alleged knowledge of extraterrestrials from the public, Lee suspects it may stem from the Church's concerns about inciting panic, or that it could shake people's faith.
'Why should we believe in one God, one Christ, if there's other life out there?' He asked. But he believes it's only a matter of time until the Vatican has no choice but to reveal what it knows.
Thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and other highly advanced research instruments, scientists have already found signatures of life beyond Earth.
Most recently, astronomers used JWST to detect dimethyl sulfide molecules in the atmosphere of a planet known as K2-18b.
On Earth, this chemical is almost exclusively produced by life forms like marine algae, leading the team to believe it could be a biosignature of alien life.
Lee expects that researchers will soon find evidence of intelligent extraterrestrials, perhaps even within the next few months, he said.
Such a revelation would put increased pressure on the Vatican to make any records of UFO encounters public, he suggests.
What's more, releasing this information is important to national security and public safety, he adds, as it's possible some of these flying objects weren't alien at all, rather advanced military technologies wielded by global powers.
'What people are seeing in the sky, they could be genuine extraterrestrial UFOs, but there's also most likely going to be secret military technology years and years ahead of what we think they've got,' Lee said.
'I think people in the UFO community need to be aware of that. It's not just little green men visiting, it's more complicated.'
Pope Francis' successor will be elected by the College of Cardinals, who are all men that were appointed by the Pope and are usually ordained bishops.
The election process, or 'conclave,' typically begins after a 15-day mourning period following the Pope's death, and can last for weeks or months.
That's because the new Pope isn't elected until he has won at least 90 votes, which may take several rounds of voting.
Lee is hopeful that the next person elected to the papacy will begin to disclose any information the Vatican may have about potential UFO and extraterrestrial sightings.
'I think the public deserves to know,' he said. 'We don't need to be protected from this information.'