[ELS]

but evolution in the neo-Darwinian sense - an unguided, unplanned process of random variation and natural selection - is not.
Apart from believing it as an act of faith, how does he know that?

He's the Pope.

Actually the quote that BikerNYC highlighted was by the Cardinal of Vienna, not Pope Benedict in x5452's original post.

[x5452]

Benedict refuted the notion of "an unguided, unplanned process of random variation and natural selection" the cardinal paraphrased it and labeled it 'neo-darwinian'. The only thing you can really dispute is whether neo-darwinian is an appropriate label for that.

Personally "an unguided, unplanned process of random variation and natural selection" seems classical darwin to me.