Vatican Observatory scholar says Earth may be rarer than once believed

A Vatican Observatory scholar said modern astronomy suggests Earth may be far less ordinary than scientists once believed, saying decades of research have revealed a universe filled with diverse world rather than countless Earth-life planets capable of supporting intelligent life.

Christopher Graney, an adjunct scholar at the Vatican Observatory, told “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Veronica Dudo on Oct. 2: “From a modern astronomy perspective, Earth is not an ordinary place. Doesn’t mean that there’s no other planets like Earth elsewhere in the universe, but the universe is certainly not full of worlds like Earth.”

Graney asks readers to look at Earth in the context of the vast universe in his new book “A Universe of Earths: Our Planet and Other Worlds, Copernicus to NASA” (Oxford University Press, 2026).

For much of modern history, astronomers believed Earth was unremarkable and that many Earth-like worlds populated the universe, Graney said. However, Graney debunks this theory and argues for a more realistic approach to our solar system.

“Not long ago, at least in terms of Church history, astronomers thought Earth was very ordinary,” he said. “They thought that there were…