The Thomistic Institute Would St. Thomas Baptize and Extraterrestrial? – Dr. Edmund Lazzari
Nov 13, 2025
Dr. Edmund Lazzari, a Teaching Fellow at Duquesne University, dives deep into the intriguing intersection of Thomistic theology and extraterrestrial life. He explores whether St. Thomas Aquinas would consider baptizing an intelligent non-human species and discusses the implications of astrobiology on Catholic teaching. Lazzari explains the nature of intelligence, the immortality of the soul, and whether non-humans require salvation. He argues that Aquinas's framework expertly addresses questions about the spiritual independence of other species in light of the human fall.
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Framing The Baptism Question
- St. Thomas Aquinas' framework lets us ask if non-human intelligent beings could be recipients of Christian sacraments.
- The question is framed via a test case: an intelligent mollusk-like species such as Admiral Ackbar.
Nature As Form And Matter
- Nature for Aquinas is the form-and-matter structure that gives a thing its powers and identity.
- Form, not mere material composition, explains why new arrangements produce new causal capacities.
Humanity Requires Human Matter
- Human essence requires both specifically human form and human matter, so radically different extraterrestrials aren't human.
- Therefore an intelligent mollusk-like being would not share human nature and thus not be a human being.
