[ItsOurTimeNow]

NEWSBRIEF: Chicago Tribune, Friday, 10/25/96, "POPE BOLSTERS CHURCH SUPPORT FOR EVOLUTION", by Stevenson Swanson, Tribune Staff Writer, Dateline: New York.

"In a major statement of the Roman Catholic Church's position on the theory of evolution, Pope John Paul II has proclaimed that the theory is 'more than just a hypothesis' and that evolution is compatible with Christian faith. In a written message to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the pope said the theory of evolution has been buttressed by scientific studies and discoveries since Charles Darwin ... "It is indeed remarkable that this theory has progressively taken root in the minds of researchers following a series of discoveries made in different spheres of knowledge', the pope said in his message Wednesday. 'The convergence, neither sought nor provoked, of results of studies undertaken independently from each other constitutes, in itself, asignificant argument in favor of this theory..."

"If taken literally, the Biblical view of the beginning of life and Darwin's scientific view would seem irreconcilable. In Genesis, the creation of the world, and Adam, the first human, took six days. Evolution's process of genetic mutation and natural selection-the survival and proliferation of the fittest new species-has taken billions of years, according to scientists ..."

>>He did no such thing;<<

It appears otherwise.

>>Questions of how he was created and by what means (whether immediately or through some kind of descent) are interesting, but the Christian's sanctity does not stand or fall on them.<<

Does the Catholic Church then not take Genesis literally?

And your answers to the rest still point to "Yes, but...".

A 'yes' is still a 'yes'.

[Mershon]

I don't suppose you have ever read what the Church officially teaches about evolution in its last authoritative pronouncement? Try Humani Generis, by Pope Pius XII. Going directly to the Church rather than through the media outlets, which tend to get translations wrong, and misrepresent nearly every Church issue, is a much better way of actually understanding it.

[Jaded]

Is it your position that the world will end in 2007 and only a few of you will be 'raptured'? Is it also your position that the earth has only been in existence for 6000 years?

Have a nice day.

[AlaninSA]

Are you trying to be obnoxious?

Try educating yourself before spewing the garbage you hear at whatever "Community" church you attend. Of course, like many nutcase fundies who hate Catholics, you're likely to never share what cultish sect to which you belong.

Such courage from the wacko fundie crowd...

[Claud]

IOTN, I happen to have read pretty extensively on the Church and evolution, including what St. Augustine and St. Basil said in the first few centuries. The Catholic *absolutely* takes Genesis literally, and has been very very careful about it precisely because it is such a challenging and difficult text. I got nothing against literalists, but don't go making your private interpretation of Genesis the measure of orthodoxy for everyone, especially if you haven't been in on the ground floor of 2000 years of exegesis. If Augustine could write a book about Genesis and say that he was asking more questions than he was answering, I'm seriously doubtful that you or anyone else on this forum can have it nailed down to a tee.

I am well familiar with that JPII quote you mention, and there was some dispute about what he meant by the phrase "more than a hypothesis" as it was delivered in French (plus qu'un hypothesis" and the meaning was somewhat vague.

Anyhow, that was a private statement of the Pope's and had nothing whatever to do with official magisterial teaching, for which, as Mershon correctly pointed out, Humani Generis is still the most important document. HUmani Generis allows for the possibility that evolution may have produced the human body, but rejects any notion that it proceeded without God, and says that the soul cannot have arisen by such processes but is immediately created at conception.