[PatrickHenry]

And I didn't read anything in all of that which I would take to be supportive of Intelligent Design whatsoever, from the Catholic perspective.

Correct. And this has already been approved (or "consented to") by Cardinal Ratzinger, so I don't see any reasonable expectation of a change. That is, there won't be any endorsement of ID, and certainly none for creationism. Other denominations see things differently. But for the Catholic Church, one Galileo affair is quite enough. They're far too smart to make that kind of mistake again.

[spatso]

"It is likely that for a long time the earth lacked the conditions that would eventually enable today’s animals and plants to evolve. But the succession in which fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds appeared and the speed with which they evolved raise questions that still beg for an answer. The evolutionary lineage that led to humankind appeared in the last minutes of the clock of life. Around 6 million years ago the first split is said to have occurred when the lineage that led to anthropomorphic apes broke away from the one that gave rise to the cluster of Hominid species. Eventually, the latter saw the human lineage emerge some 2 million years ago. Before modern humans could develop some 150,000 years ago, other Homo species walked the earth like Homo Erectus and, before him, Homo Habilis, to which Homo Sapiens is related."
Florenzo Facchini, Evolution and Creation

When Benedict XVI suggests that design and evolution are consistent with the Catechism of the Catholic Church it will not alter in any manner the current teaching of the Church. No matter how people may wish to interpret the final words that come forward, the teaching will be consistent with the Facchini description of evolutionary lineage. So, the Church will find a language to affirm both evolution and design. But that language will not in any way be describing anything remotely similar to the proposals of Intelligent Design. The real problem for the Church is not with the science of Intelligent Design, the problem is in the theology.