WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Robert McElroy, the heterodox archbishop of Washington, D.C., claimed that he did not remove prominent exorcist Monsignor Stephen Rossetti last month because of his remarks linking UFOs to demons – as McElroy previously said – but because he was concerned that the exorcist’s role should be kept “private.”

During a June 29 interview with Catholic News Service at the Pontifical North American College, published on July 8, McElroy, who is well-known for his heterodoxy on homosexuality and other moral issues, asserted that his decision earlier in the month to remove Monsignor Rossetti had nothing to do with his remarks that so-called “aliens” and UFOs may be demons in disguise.

Instead, the cardinal said that his objection to Rossetti’s ministry was that, traditionally, the role of an exorcist has been “a very private one.”

“It wasn’t touching on the question of UFOs,” McElroy claimed during the interview. “My major objection is that I think the traditional role of an exorcist is a very private one. It’s a sacred one.”

The archbishop of Washington, who has demonstrated hostility to Catholic tradition, added that exorcists perform a ministry “in particularly serious cases” and that the office “shouldn’t go beyond that.”

“I think the more traditional approach of an exorcist is a private, within-the-life-of-the-Church ministry to help individuals who are in crisis and seem to be demonically possessed,” he said. “It shouldn’t go beyond that for people who are doing exorcism.”

READ: Cardinal McElroy removes exorcist for saying demons disguise themselves as aliens

Rossetti’s original statement about demons and UFOs

As previously reported by LifeSiteNews, Msgr. Rossetti published a now-deleted YouTube video on UFOs in response to a surge of interest in the topic after the Trump administration’s recent release of files documenting alleged observations of UFOs, during which the priest said that he believes at least “many” of the UFO sightings are actually demons in disguise.

“There’s no question in my mind personally … it’s my personal belief that probably many, if not most of these UFO sightings are in fact demons,” he said, adding that the demons can accomplish feats that humans are incapable of, such as those observed in UFO sightings, like changing trajectories at seemingly impossible speeds.

Just days later, the Archdiocese of Washington announced that McElroy had removed Msgr. Rossetti as an exorcist, falsely claiming that his statements on UFOs “undermine” the Church’s teaching.

READ: Chief exorcist of DC archdiocese says demons disguise themselves as aliens, UFOs

“Cardinal McElroy said that statements made by Monsignor Rossetti 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,” the archdiocese’s press release stated.

The archdiocese’s statement indicates that, contrary to McElroy’s new statement, the exorcist’s remarks on UFOs were a major factor in the cardinal’s decision. Msgr. Rossetti, who is a strong defender of Catholic teaching, including on sexuality, remains in good standing in his home Diocese of Syracuse, New York.

It is often the practice of the Church that the identity of exorcists be kept secret so as not to draw excessive attention to the practice. Today, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) “exorcism” page says that it is “strongly suggested that the identity of the exorcist be kept secret or at most known only to the other priests of the diocese so as not to overwhelm the exorcist with random calls and inquiries.”

Catholic teaching and aliens

Several Catholic clerics and thinkers have posited that UFOs and so-called “aliens” are demonic in origin. Catholic philosopher and professor Daniel O’Connor has warned for years of a forthcoming alien deception.

O’Connor previously told LifeSiteNews Editor-in-Chief John-Henry Westen that the public is gradually being acclimated to the idea of aliens, like the proverbial frog slowly boiled in a pot of water, so that we may eventually be presented with a “new gospel” from “the heavens” to replace Christ’s Gospel.

He has cited 2 Thessalonians 2:9–12 as an indication that demons can deceive human beings with “wonders” such as that of apparent UFOs: The lawless one comes “with all power and with pretended signs and wonders … with all wicked deception”; God sends a “strong delusion” so that people “believe what is false.” O’Connor says we may understand this to include a great end-times deception involving aliens and UFOs.

READ: Matt Walsh, EWTN, Catholic Answers all fall for the alien deception

O’Connor emphasized that the Genesis creation account shows that God created the physical universe for man and earth alone: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) Everything the account describes thereafter is for man on earth, with the exception of an allusion to angelic beings, some of which fell and became demons.

He has also cited several popes who have condemned the idea of alien life. For example, Pope St. Zachary, in an 8th-century letter to St. Boniface regarding Virgil of Salzburg, condemned as “perverse and abominable … in opposition to God, and to his own soul’s detriment” the teaching that there is “another world and other men beneath the earth, or even the sun and moon.”

Indeed, The Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms this, stating that “Of all visible creatures, only man is able to know and love his Creator … he alone is called to share … in God’s own life” (CCC §355-356) and that the universe is “destined for and addressed to man.” (CCC §299)

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