From the Vatican to the British Government, the world seems to have aliens on the brain right now. And while the timing is coincidental, the subject has tickled the fancy of news organizations, science enthusiasts, and Trekkies and X-Philes alike.

The story started when Father Jose Gabriel Funes, Director of the Vatican Observatory, gave an interview stating that it's possible that there is life on other planets.

In the interview, which Father Funes gave to the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, the Jesuit priest and astronomer stated that, due to the size of the universe, it would be impossible to say that life could not have developed elsewhere.

The priest further stated that if aliens exist, we should speak of them as extraterrestrial brothers, because they are still a part of creation.

The interview, which is entitled The Extraterrestrial Is My Brother, goes on to quote Funes as saying that science, especially astronomy, does not contradict religion. One of the major themes of Pope Benedict XVI's papacy has been the exploration of the relationship between science and religion.

Although the interview may seem revolutionary to the non-science fiction fan, Father Funes's speech may sound familiar to longtime fen.

And while first contact stories have been the bread and butter of the science fiction diet, one seminal work that has dealt with religion - as it may shape culture in the future - has been Orson Scott Card's popular Ender's Game series. One of the many sub-plots of the series involves missionary work, conversion and salvation within the framework of a first contact situation.

No sooner had the ink dried on the Vatican's story, than the British Ministry of Defense (MOD) began to release classified documents spanning a time period from the 1950's to 2007.

The project, which began Monday, May 19, will transfer documents to the National Archives over a four-year time period.

Among the documents already available for public examination include an account by an air traffic controller who witnessed an Unidentified Flying Object touch down on a runway briefly before taking off, and another by an elderly man who says that he was given a tour of an alien craft before being rejected as a candidate for abduction due to his age.

While the timing of the two events could be coincidental, they are also coming in the same season as The X-Files: I Want to Believe, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, both movies that deal with alien contact.

It could just be that The Pope and The Queen are both closet geeks.