Italian biblical translator Mauro Biglino has revealed that he was dismissed by the Vatican after publishing literal translations of original Hebrew scriptures that reinterpret God as a group of mortal, technologically advanced alien beings.
Biglino, a researcher and author who previously worked as a translator for Edizioni San Paolo, a major Catholic publishing house linked to the Vatican, claims his conclusions stem from analyzing biblical texts literally rather than through centuries of theological tradition.
Speaking in an interview on the podcast Project Unity, the translator described how rapidly his employment ended once his literal interpretations were made public. "When I started to write what I really read in the Hebrew Bible, I was fired in one minute," Biglino said.
Central to his arguments is the Hebrew word Elohim, which appears 2,570 times in the Holy Book. While modern Bibles translate the term as a singular "God," Biglino points out that the word carries a plural form meaning "Gods" or divine figures.
According to the Italian scholar, treating Elohim as a single supreme deity distorts what ancient authors intended to convey. "There are multiple divine figures, with different names of God," Biglino said. "If Elohim are not God, the Bible is another Book."
Literal Hebrew Translations and Extraterrestrial Theories
Rather than viewing the Elohim as supernatural spirits, Biglino believes the ancient texts describe encounters with advanced beings of flesh and blood who possessed long lifespans and superior technology.
In his interview with podcast host Jay Anderson, Biglino elaborated on the physical nature of these beings. "The Elohim were flesh and blood, but with a longer lifespan, but still mortal, with higher technology and higher powers," he told Anderson.
His work builds on the controversial ancient astronaut hypothesis popularized by Swiss author Erich von Däniken in his 1968 bestseller Chariots of the Gods, which argued that extraterrestrials visited ancient civilizations and shared technology with humanity.
Before his death earlier this year, von Däniken collaborated with Biglino on the book Skies Aflame. While von Däniken focused primarily on ancient monuments such as the Egyptian pyramids and archaeological mysteries, Biglino bases his conclusions directly on his own translations of the Hebrew Bible, arguing key terms have been misunderstood for centuries.
Disputed Meanings of the Term Elohim
In his book Gods of the Bible, Biglino notes that while "Elohim" is routinely translated simply as "God" in modern Bibles, specialist academic editions often leave the Hebrew term untranslated because its exact meaning remains disputed.
Writing in his book, Biglino highlighted how traditional translations mask textual difficulties from everyday readers. "Where people read 'God' and were led to believe that the biblical authors had written the word 'God,' scholars read the untranslated term 'Elohim' and were made aware that this term is problematic," he wrote.
According to Biglino, Hebrew dictionaries offer a far broader range of meanings for Elohim, including "gods," "judges," "rulers," "superhuman beings," "angels," "children of God," and "those from above."
The word also appears throughout the Old Testament alongside both singular and plural verbs, which he says indicates that it cannot always refer to a single deity.
The Divine Council in Psalm 82
One passage central to Biglino's theory is Psalm 82, where God appears to stand among other divine beings before declaring: "You are 'gods'; you are all sons of the Most High. But you will die like mere mortals; you will fall like every other ruler."
To Biglino, this text describes an assembly or council of powerful Elohim rulers rather than a lone, all-powerful God.
Biblical scholar Michael S. Heiser also interpreted Psalm 82 as describing a divine council, though he viewed its members as spiritual beings rather than extraterrestrials.
Prophetic Visions and Ancient Technology
Biglino extends his interpretation beyond Psalms, arguing that several biblical passages traditionally viewed as supernatural visions are better understood as eyewitness descriptions of advanced technology.
Among the most famous examples is the Book of Ezekiel, which describes "wheels one inside the other" that "moved in every direction without moving." While mainstream biblical scholars regard the passage as a symbolic vision of God's glory, Biglino believes the prophet was describing a craft using the limited language available more than 2,500 years ago.
He points to the ancient Hebrew word "ruah," which is traditionally translated as "spirit." "The ancient Hebrew term 'ruah' had a very concrete meaning, as it stood for 'wind,' 'breath,' 'moving air,' 'storm wind,' and thus, in a broader sense, for 'that which moves swiftly through the air space,'" Biglino said.
In his view, later theological interpretation transformed the word into "spirit," obscuring what was originally intended as a literal description of something moving rapidly through the airspace.
Rather than recording a mystical experience, Biglino insists Ezekiel was documenting a real historical encounter. "We have a description of a very close encounter with an unidentified object that was undoubtedly in the air," he wrote.
Analyzing Ezekiel's visual description, Biglino added: "It looked like a thundercloud coming from the north; in its center, the prophet saw a fire (a propulsion system?) rotating around itself, like luminous radiation."
