Priest who said aliens were demons removed as exorcist for Washington

The ousted clergyman, Monsignor Stephen Rossetti, is an ordained priest and psychologist who also served as an exorcist for the archdiocese, a role that involves investigating claims of demonic possession.

Cardinal Robert McElroy, the archbishop of Washington, removed a high-profile exorcist on June 3, saying his recent statements on aliens and demons “gravely undermine” the church’s teachings.

The ousted clergyman, Monsignor Stephen Rossetti, is an ordained priest and psychologist who also served as an exorcist for the archdiocese, a role that involves investigating claims of demonic possession. He leads the St Michael Center for Spiritual Renewal, an institution in Washington that ministers to people “in need of healing and deliverance”.

The nature of potential extraterrestrial life has been debated in 2026, as President Donald Trump directed his administration in February to begin releasing government files related to aliens and UFOs. The disclosure began in May, with the Pentagon’s release of images, though their significance is unclear.

For some Christians, the possibility of intelligent extraterrestrial beings poses theological challenges. Some Catholics and Protestants argue that they are better understood as demonic entities.

“I don’t think they’re aliens, I think they’re demons,” Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, said on a podcast this spring.

In a live interview on a YouTube show this week, Rossetti said something similar. Although he acknowledged that a belief in extraterrestrial life was compatible with Catholic teaching, he speculated that “many if not most of these ‘UFO sightings’ are in fact demons”.

“They can do things we can’t do,” he added, referring in particular to moving at speeds beyond human capabilities.

McElroy, who was installed in the influential post of archbishop of Washington in 2025, evidently did not agree. He announced on June 3 that he had removed Rossetti as an exorcist for the archdiocese and ended the affiliation between the archdiocese and the institution he heads.

“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 archbishop said in a statement.

The archdiocese declined to provide details on which church teaching Rossetti had undermined.

There is no formal church teaching on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, said Christopher Baglow, who heads the Science and Religion Initiative at the University of Notre Dame’s McGrath Institute for C