Chief DC exorcist says UFOs likely demonic, warns against losing sight of Jesus

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, June 02, 2026

Monsignor Stephen J. Rossetti, who serves as chief exorcist for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, joined the growing chorus of Catholics and other Christians warning that UFOs and related phenomena are likely demonic.

During a brief message posted last Friday to the YouTube page of his St. Michael Center for Spiritual Renewal, Rossetti noted the growing national conversation about UFOs. He acknowledged that believing life exists on other planets is theologically neutral, but warned that demons may misrepresent themselves as extraterrestrials to manipulate and deceive.

"But there's a danger here ... as an exorcist, I wanted to raise that danger: and that is that demons like to hide, they don't want us to know they're around," he said. "They don't want us to know what they're doing because they're more effective when we don't realize it. And they can kind of get into your head ... and manipulate things in the world to influence us to do evil."

Rossetti said Ephesians 6:12 makes clear that humanity is engaged in warfare against spiritual forces of wickedness in high places and encourages Christians to "put on the armor of God" to resist them.

Exorcist Stephen Rossetti: "Most UFO sightings are likely Demons" ????????

A Catholic Priest for the Archdiocese of Washington, he explains that demons hide to manipulate us more effectively. "Demons like to hide. They don't want us to know they're out... they can kind of get into… pic.twitter.com/qrbt7I3WzI

— Interstellar (@InterstellarUAP) May 31, 2026

Citing his experiences as an exorcist ministering to those suffering demonic affliction, Rossetti said spirits can sometimes manifest in the physical realm, often as "shadow men," orbs of light or even "beast-like creatures."

"There's no question in my mind, personally — again, this is not de fide, but it's my personal belief — that probably many, if not most, of these UFO sightings are, in fact, demons; and they can do things that we can't do, such [as] the speed and all sorts of things that human beings can't do."

"The reason why it's important is because they will try to manipulate us," he continued, offering the example of a woman he knew who believed she was contacting her deceased grandmother through the occult practice of automatic writing, until she later learned she was channeling something deceptive and evil.

Rossetti noted divination, sorcery and other occult activity are prohibited for the sake of humanity's spiritual protection and urged his listeners not to let themselves be distracted from focusing on Jesus.

"Remember, our fight is against principalities and powers, evil spirits, Satan and his minions. But in the end, we trust in God. Just follow the rules; as I tell people, stay in the boat, follow the rules, they're there to keep you safe. The church is not trying to control you, they're trying to keep you safe from the evil one. ... But trust in Jesus. We have a great joy in the Lord, and our eyes are fixed on Heaven."

"So, don't worry about the UFO stuff and all the 'friendly ghosts' and aliens," he added.

Rossetti's warning regarding the potentially demonic nature of UFOs and other occult phenomena echoed that of Father Chad Ripperger, an exorcist serving the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver.

During an interview with former Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan that aired in March, Ripperger noted that most "alien abduction" scenarios have all signs of demonic possession.

"I actually did a conference on this more recently, where I parse out 10 different ways in which ... those abduction scenarios, if you actually look at what the 'aliens' are supposedly doing, is identical to the same things that demons do ... to people who are possessed," Ripperger told Ryan.

Father Chad Ripperger on UFOs, aliens, and what the Bible actually says about extraterrestrial life and abduction phenomena. pic.twitter.com/1cmbZ9p02d

— Shawn Ryan (@ShawnRyan762) March 3, 2026

"So, if you strip the veneer of the alien aspect of it off, then in point of fact, what you're dealing with is just, they're just demons," he added, and recommended the bestselling 2004 book Alien Intrusion by Christian apologist Gary Bates.

Ripperger noted that in Bates' book, which also debunks many alleged UFO and extraterrestrial sightings, there are accounts of abduction scenarios that immediately stop when the abductee invokes the name of Jesus Christ.

Ripperger further observed that the accounts of UFOs appearing to defy the laws of known physics also suggest their demonic, ethereal nature.

"There's some that speculate, too, that some of the craft that we see moving in ways that are contrary to physical laws is also just a diabolic mirage, which they can cause. That type of stuff is extraordinarily rare because God doesn't usually permit it but that can actually happen."

"A lot of this stuff, not all of it, but a lot of this stuff is just diabolic in nature," he added.

The potentially spiritual nature of UFOs, extraterrestrials, interdimensionals and related phenomena has increasingly emerged as a topic of discussion on influential podcasts and among prominent officials in recent months.

Last month, a group of Charismatic pastors raised eyebrows and stoked controversy for claiming they had a clandestine meeting about UFOs with U.S. officials, who reportedly warned them to prepare their churches for disclosure.

On May 8, the Pentagon released its first batch of files related to unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), urging the public to draw their own conclusions.