'UFO Sightings Are, In Fact, Demons': Top US Exorcist Fired After Dropping Chilling Alien Warning

A prominent American exorcist has been removed from his post in Washington, D.C. after publicly claiming that many UFO sightings are actually demons at work, according to the Archdiocese of Washington and his own ministry.

Monsignor Stephen Rossetti, a 74‑year‑old Catholic priest and licensed clinical psychologist, was stripped of his role as an exorcist after a video posted on 29 May warned Christians that unidentified flying objects were, in his personal view, part of a spiritual deception.

Rossetti is not some fringe figure on the edge of Catholic life. For nearly two decades, he served as an official exorcist for the Archdiocese of Washington, combining his priestly ministry with clinical training in psychology and a reputation as an expert in spiritual and emotional wellness. Through his St Michael Centre for Spiritual Renewal, he has trained clergy, written books and recorded videos on what the Church calls 'deliverance' from demonic influence. It was that same digital pulpit that appears to have cost him his position.

In the now‑deleted video, shared on the centre's Facebook and YouTube channels, Rossetti turned from Bible study to UFOs with a matter‑of‑fact confidence that jarred even some of his supporters. Citing the New Testament letter to the Ephesians, which speaks of a struggle against 'spiritual forces of evil,' he urged Christians to 'put on the armour of God' and remain wary of supernatural forces that, in his experience, prefer to stay hidden.

Rossetti then leaned heavily on his work as an exorcist to argue that demonic spirits can present themselves in forms that people might not immediately recognise as religious. He spoke of 'beast‑like creatures,' unexplained glowing orbs and the unsettling figures sometimes described as 'shadow men.' From there, he made the leap to lights in the sky.

'There's no question in my mind, personally,' he said, stressing that what followed was not official Church teaching, '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.'

UFO Claims Collide With Church Caution

What might have remained a niche theological speculation became something more serious once it was broadcast to tens of thousands of followers. In the video, Rossetti warned that the issue was not entertainment but manipulation. 'The reason why it's important is that they will try to manipulate us,' he said, suggesting that what some describe as contact with aliens could be a way for malevolent spirits to gain a foothold in people's lives.

He went on to recount a case involving a woman who believed she was communicating with her late grandmother through 'automatic writing', an occult practice in which messages appear as the hand moves seemingly without conscious control.

Rossetti said he had concluded that the comforting presence she thought was a relative was in fact something darker. 'There's a danger here ... as an exorcist, I wanted to raise that danger,' he said. 'Demons like to hide; they don't want us to know they're around. They don't want us to know what they're doing because they're more effective when we don't realise it.'

He described how such entities can 'get into your head ... and manipulate things in the world to influence us to do evil.' That insistence on seeing a demonic strategy behind UFO sightings appears to have crossed a line for his superiors.

Archdiocese Cuts Ties After 'Grave' Concerns

According to reports cited by the New York Times, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the Archbishop of Washington, stepped in to address the fallout. Church officials, the reports say, stressed that claims involving the supernatural require exceptional caution and discretion. Exorcism, they argued, is a sacramental ministry governed by strict rules, not a subject for sweeping speculation on social media.

In a decision that will have sent ripples through clerical circles, Rossetti was removed from his role as exorcist after about 19 years, and the Archdiocese of Washington severed its formal links with the St Michael Centre. The archdiocese is said to have concluded that Rossetti's comments and the centre's broader online output 'gravely undermine the Church's very precise teaching on the devil, demons and exorcism.'

That phrase is telling. For all popular fascination with exorcism, official Catholic doctrine on Satan and demons is carefully hedged, couched in centuries of theological reflection and pastoral prudence. Suggesting that 'many, if not most' UFO sightings are actually demons, even as a personal opinion, risks collapsing those nuances into a lurid cosmology the Church does not endorse.

Rossetti has not publicly challenged the decision. Instead, he removed the video, issued a written apology and underlined his continued loyalty to Church authority. 'I am saddened by the decision of the Archdiocese of Washington to cut its affiliation with St Michael Centre for Spiritual Renewal (SMC),' he wrote in a statement.

He added: 'I ask forgiveness for any ways that I have not been faithful to the teachings of the Church's Magisterium, particularly in the cited video on aliens and the demonic.' The statement ended on a note of submission more than defiance. 'I believe it is of the utmost importance to be obedient to the Church, and I will continue to endeavour to subject all that I do and the Centre to be thus obedient.'

None of the central claims in Rossetti's video about UFOs and demons has been independently verified, and no further details have been released by the archdiocese. What is confirmed is the cost of voicing them: the loss of a long‑standing exorcist's post, and a sharp reminder of how quickly online theology can spill into institutional discipline.