--- ---  # Pope Francis Says He Would Baptize Martians If They Asked by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman May 13, 2014 5:41 PM UTC  Pope Francis speaks during a meeting with boarding of schools, colleges and clergy of Rome at Paul VI audience hall on May 12, 2014 at the Vatican. AFP PHOTO / ANDREAS SOLARO (Photo credit should read ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP/Getty Images) Pope Francis speaks during a meeting with boarding of schools, colleges and clergy of Rome at Paul VI audience hall on May 12, 2014 at the Vatican. AFP PHOTO / ANDREAS SOLARO (Photo credit should read ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP/Getty Images)Andreas Solaro / AFP / Getty Images by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman May 13, 2014 5:41 PM UTC In a homily delivered Monday, Pope Francis said he’d totally baptize Martians if they showed up at the Vatican demanding to be baptized. He was trying to illustrate the point that everyone has the right to receive the Holy Spirit — even aliens from faraway planets. “If tomorrow, for example, an expedition of Martians arrives and some of them come to us … and if one of them says: ‘Me, I want to be baptized!’, what would happen?” the pontiff said, [according to AFP](http://www.smh.com.au/world/pope-says-baptism-for-all--even-martians-20140513-zraqo.html). He defined these hypothetical beings as “green men, with a long nose and big ears, like children draw.” For extra emphasis, he added, “Who are we to close doors?” Pope Francis Says He Would Baptizes Martians In Morning Mass Homily ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/97695/pope-francis-would-baptize-martians/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/97695/pope-francis-would-baptize-martians/"},"headline":"Pope Francis Says He Would Baptize Martians If They Asked","datePublished":"2014-05-13T17:41:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:09:39.075Z","description":"And then he'd probably take a selfie with them afterwards","url":"https://time.com/97695/pope-francis-would-baptize-martians/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Religion","Pope Francis topic","World","Vatican","faith","pope","aliens"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf6cc1095d0d5414d/69868f17361760d16f90bf95/489723481.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf6cc1095d0d5414d/69868f17361760d16f90bf95/489723481.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"VATICAN-POPE-EDUCATION","caption":"VATICAN-POPE-EDUCATION","creditText":"Andreas Solaro / AFP / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/97695/pope-francis-would-baptize-martians/","name":"Pope Francis Says He Would Baptize Martians If They Asked"}}]}] ```