UFO investigator Mark Christopher Lee is calling on the Vatican to declassify “hundreds” of documents on potential sightings from its underground archives.

The Holy See has faced accusations of “working with the US government” to conceal UFO evidence—claims amplified after a Pentagon whistleblower alleged the Vatican helped cover up a 1930s Italian UFO crash.

Lee, who studies links between religion and alien phenomena, insists these archives may contain centuries-old sightings.

With Pope Francis’s passing, he urges transparency: “If the Church is truly committed to spiritual truth and human enlightenment, then it must no longer suppress information that could fundamentally reshape our understanding of our place in the cosmos.”

He also suggests religious texts might describe misunderstood UFO encounters: “What people are seeing in the sky could be genuine extraterrestrial UFOs, but there’s also most likely going to be secret military technology years ahead of what we think they’ve got.”

“I think people in the UFO community need to be aware of that. It’s not just little green men visiting, it’s more complicated. I think the public deserves to know. We don’t need to be protected from this information.”