--- title: Pope Francis Says He Would Baptizes Martians In Morning Mass Homily description: And then he'd probably take a selfie with them afterwards canonical: https://time.com/97695/pope-francis-would-baptize-martians/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-13T17:41:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:44:45.902Z og:title: Pope Francis Says He Would Baptize Martians If They Asked og:description: "Who are we to close doors?" og:url: https://time.com/97695/pope-francis-would-baptize-martians/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf6cc1095d0d5414d/69868f17361760d16f90bf95/489723481.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4928 og:image:height: 2772 og:image:alt: VATICAN-POPE-EDUCATION og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Pope Francis Says He Would Baptize Martians If They Asked twitter:description: "Who are we to close doors?" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf6cc1095d0d5414d/69868f17361760d16f90bf95/489723481.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Pope Francis Says He Would Baptize Martians If They Asked > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. 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?” ```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":"2026-08-19T07:44:45.902Z","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","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"}}]}] ```