José Gabriel Funes, S.J. (born January 31, 1963, in Córdoba) is an Argentine Jesuit priest and astronomer. He was the Director of the Vatican Observatory from August 19, 2006, until September 18, 2015, when he was succeeded by Pope Francis's appointment of Brother Guy Consolmagno, S.J. Funes serves on the Advisory Council of METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence).

Biography

He has a master's degree in Astronomy from the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba in Argentina and a doctorate from the University of Padua in Italy. He also has a bachelor's degree in philosophy from University del Salvador in Argentina and a bachelor's degree in theology from Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. A member of the Society of Jesus, he was ordained a priest in 1995. He joined the Vatican Observatory as a researcher in 2000, and was named its director on August 19, 2006, replacing Fr. George Coyne.

Selected Papers

Funes has published approximately 30 refereed papers, mostly on the morphology and dynamics of galaxies.

Controversy about Extraterrestrials

In an interview in May 2008 he stated that the possible existence of intelligent extraterrestrials did not contradict church teaching and ruling out the existence of aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's creative freedom. He has speculated that such alien life forms could even be “free from Original Sin ... [remaining] in full friendship with their creator.” He is also on record as stating "I continue to believe that God created the universe, and that we are not the product of chance, but the children of a good father, who has a design for us based on love," though he does believe in the Big Bang.