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Bishop withdraws claim to jurisdiction over the Moon

The Diocese of Orlando covers much of the greater Central Florida area (which is over 400,000 Catholic residents), but also the Moon. We owe this oddity to an obscure rule in the 1917 Code of Canon Law.

The 1917 Code of Canon Law (Codex Iuris Canonici), also known as the Pio-Benedictine Code, is the first official, integrated and systematic codification of all the laws, decrees and rules governing the Catholic Church, in its institutional aspect. According to this Code, all newly discovered territory falls under the bishopric from which the discovery expedition started.





Back this time in 1968. William Donald Borders was appointed the first Bishop of Orlando. His diocese encompassed nine counties with hundreds of towns. At the time, this was not bad, but this diocese would soon become much larger, at least on paper. One year later, the first humans set foot on the moon. The Apollo 11 mission took off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, a territory under the 'control' of Bishop William Donald Borders. From then on, he became the first lunar bishop.

"You know, Holy Father, I am the Bishop of the Moon."

A few days later, the Florida Catholic newspaper of July 25, 1969, ran the headline: "Religious Leaders Praise Landing of Men on the Moon". The Bishop appeared on the front page with New York Cardinal Terrence Cooke, both photographed on a tour of the Cape Canaveral facility on the eve of Apollo 11's lift-off, with the huge Saturn V rocket behind them.

Following the success of Apollo 11, during his ad-limina visit to Pope Paul VI (the five-yearly visit that every Catholic bishop is required to make to Rome), Borders is said to have confided in him the following words: 'You know, Holy Father, I am the bishop of the Moon'. The Pope was reportedly briefly taken aback, before the bishop finally explained the context.

Note that the Pope had followed this lunar mission with interest on television. He was even photographed observing the Moon through a telescope at the Vatican Observatory near Castel Gandolfo (the Pope's summer residence). 

After reaching retirement age, at 75, William Donald Borders presented his letter of resignation to Pope John Paul II, who accepted it on 6 April 1989. He finally died in 2010 at the age of 96. The current Bishop of the Diocese of Orlando is John Gerard Noonan. Jennifer Drow, his communications secretary, assures us that his religious leader does not consider himself to be a Bishop of the Moon, nor of the International Space Station (also launched from Cape Canaveral).

If taken seriously, this famous Diocese of Orlando would become the largest in the world, with nearly 38 million square kilometres of land covered.

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Pope Francis has already said he would baptise aliens:

"If tomorrow, for example, an expedition of Martians arrives and some of them come to us ... and if one of them says: 'Me, I want to be baptised!', what would happen?" 

He defined these hypothetical beings as “green men, with a long nose and big ears, like children draw.” For extra emphasis, he added, “Who are we to close doors?"

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Cathcon: Bishop Borders knew no borders, Bishop Noonan is no longer Moonman.   A wonderful reminder of the fictional Anglican Bishop of Outer Space in the Peter Sellers' film, Heavens Above, where a progressive cleric is shot into space to get him out of the way.  I have an idea; a colony of Synodalists on Mars!



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