Forgive me if it seemed flippant or rude, but when responding to "Ok, then enlighten me" is rather difficult. I mean, I'm supposed to sum up 2000 years of Church history in such a way as to convince someone who is obviously not Catholic?
Never said the Church is infallible, or that it hasn't made mistakes. It is made up of human beings, who are inherently sinful (infallibility, btw, doesn't preclude sinners, it is merely a pronouncement about faith or morals). Am saying, however, that often its wrongs are TERRIBLY overblown, and often downright lied about.
The Church opposed to slavery (i.e. the slave trade) as early as the 1300s;
The Church, during the "Dark Ages" (which were anything but, thanks to the Church) preserved and promoted education and literacy, starting with monks in scriptoria;
Universities began under the Church;
Science, art, literature, and medicine flourished under the Church.
There are countless GOOD things that the Church has done (and does) that are obfuscated or lied about when people say things like "GALILEO!!! INQUISITION!!! OPPRESSION!!!" Its GOOD history is too awesome to to be overshadowed by its failures (not failures due to the Church as an institution and faith, but rather due to the people who make up the Church).
Couple that with the preponderance of biblical evidence to back up every point of Catholic doctrine, and you'll see why "enlightening you" is no easy task, nor one that can so easily be accomplished on a message board.
If you are *actually* interested, please private mail me and I will send you some links or even send you a personal email of documents I have amassed on this very subject.
Thank you for your thoughtful response. I'm a Protestant but appreciate the Catholic Church more than many do. I don't believe it to be the "one true church" or I'd be a Catholic myself. That doesn't mean I consider it "the whore of Babylon". Ultimately, I don't believe we'll be judged by our church affiliation, but by our faith in and relationship with Christ. Yes, I'm aware of the good and bad history of the RCC. As I said in my original post on this thread, I'm not here to bash the church, but I do believe they are wrong in regards to evolution. As you have pointed out yourself, the church is not infallible and has made mistakes in the past. That was my only point. I'm frankly surprised they have taken such a liberal position. The new pope has had many good things to say that I agree with when I've read or heard his comments.