Prominent priest removed from position as exorcist after saying most ‘UFO sightings are in fact demons’

The Catholic archbishop of Washington, D.C., Cardinal Robert McElroy, has just removed a prominent priest, Monsignor Stephen Rossetti, from his role as an exorcist within the archdiocese. Per NBC News, his decision comes as a result of public comments made by Rossetti that linked UFO sightings to demonic activity. 

The archdiocese is also cutting ties with the St. Michael Center for Spiritual Renewal, a nonprofit based in Washington that was headed by Rossetti. The archbishop noted that Rossetti’s comments “linking UFOs to demonic presence and the Center’s recent use of social media gravely undermine the Church’s very precise teaching on the devil, demons and exorcism.”

Rossetti is a well-known psychologist and exorcist with a digital presence of over 148,000 followers on Instagram. In a now-deleted video posted to his Facebook page, Rossetti explained his perspective on the matter. “There’s a danger here,” Rossetti said. “As an exorcist I wanted to raise that danger. And that is that demons like to hide. … They don’t want us to know what they’re doing because they’re more effective when we don’t realize it.” 

Monsignor Rosetti did clarify that it was his view and opinion

Rosetti further suggested in his post that these entities have a way of influencing human behavior, noting, “They can kind of get into your head, you know, and manipulate things in the world to influence us to do evil.” He concluded his thoughts by stating, “It’s my personal belief that probably many if not most of these UFO sightings are in fact demons.” 

While Rossetti did acknowledge that a person could be a good Catholic and still believe in life on other planets, he stated that he personally does not subscribe to that view. Following his dismissal, Rossetti posted a statement on the St. Michael Center website expressing his sadness regarding the archdiocese’s decision. 

“I ask forgiveness for any ways that I have not been faithful to the teachings of the Church’s Magisterium, particularly in the cited video on ‘aliens and the demonic,’” he stated. He added that he remains committed to obedience to the church.

Interestingly, this theory that extraterrestrial beings might be demonic seems to be becoming increasingly widespread, based on reports and even interviews from government leaders. Recently, before the release of the Pentagon’s UAP files, Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, expressed that he was obsessed with UFOs. “I don’t think they’re aliens, I think they’re demons,” he said on a podcast with conservative commentator Benny Johnson. 

According to the New York Times, he further commented, “Every great world religion, including Christianity, the one that I believe in, has understood that there are weird things out there, and there are things that are very difficult to explain.” Similarly, California pastors from Harvest Christian Fellowship also released statements suggesting that the Pentagon’s UFO evidence could be “demonic counterfeits.”

Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado is another lawmaker who, according to the NY Times, echoed a similar sentiment on a Christian podcast hosted by the conservative Christian musician and activist Sean Feucht. “This is more spiritual and, if you really want to go there, demonic,” she said. “I don’t think that they are aliens as we have thought for most of our lives.”

The New York Times reported that in February, a group of pastors and podcasters gathered at an Airbnb in Nashville to discuss evidence for extraterrestrial life and the potential for spiritual confusion. The attendees were reportedly warned about potential government disclosures and were encouraged to prepare their congregations for what they viewed as a spiritual deception.

Jeffrey Kripal, a professor of religion at Rice University, suggests to the outlet that this reaction is a natural byproduct of how religious people process the unknown. “The gods have always come from the sky, and we call that religion,” Kripal said. “We don’t have a lot of words in the Western canon for these entities of the middle realm, so my own feeling is that when religious people look out and they see entities that don’t fit into their religious world, they call them demons.”

In contrast, Russell Moore, an editor at large for Christianity Today, noted that this kind of speculation is not a primary topic in most Christian pulpits. He emphasized that proof of extraterrestrial life should not be viewed with hostility. “If we assume the possibility that there’s something outside of Earth, our basic default should be the way we treat strangers generally,” he said.