“So did Pope Benedict really dismiss evolution as science fiction? No, he called it science fiction in the sense that it is a mental model, which is not a dismissal, but an acknowledgement. Pope Benedict and the Church have been consistently positive toward evolutionary theory as an explanatory model. That offspring differ slightly from the parents and therefore respond to the environment in slightly different ways, is obvious. Natural selection, genetic mutation, and population changes are quantifiable scientific observances. Evolutionary theory is a valid explanatory model insofar as it seeks to explain what is within the boundaries of science, something the Church absolutely insists upon.”
And here I was rooting for Benedict for a moment, thinking he really referred to the theory of evolution as “science fiction” (in other words, as a fable). Instead, he was actually praising it?
I do not believe so, from the remarks quoted. I believe the author wants to believe Pope Benedict was praising the theory of evolution. To me, it read as if he was neither "dismissing" nor praising, but identifying evolution as something more hypothesized than proved.
Chuckle. Me too.
However, of course he was not "praising it"; the article is a liberal Catholic spin.