The Church, which has never rejected evolution, teaches that God created the world and the natural laws by which life developed. Even its best-known dissident, Swiss theologian Hans Kueng, echoed this in a recent book in Germany.
This literal reading of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, is a tenet of faith for evangelical Protestants, a group that has become politically influential in the United States.
Many U.S. Catholics may agree with evangelicals politically, but the Church does not share their theology on this point. Intelligent design has few supporters outside the United States.
While not an official document, the article in L'Osservatore Romano had to be vetted in advance to reflect Vatican thinking.
Did you read the entire article? Catholicism is one of the largest mainstream religions in the world.
Cardinal Schoenborn didn't make the comments. The professor from Baloney University did. Regardless, the Cardinal's opinions in this matter are simply that.
The evolution/creation/ID debate is a largely open question for Catholics, since scientific pronouncements are beyond the Church's competence.
However, the Church is competent to delimit scientific theories which regard faith and morals. With regard to human origins, the most authoritative Church statement to date is Pope Pius XII's statement regarding polygenism, from the Encyclical, Humanae Generis, which he declares to be an impermissible position for Catholics.
37. When, however, there is question of another conjectural opinion, namely polygenism, the children of the Church by no means enjoy such liberty. For the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains either that after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled with that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the Teaching Authority of the Church propose with regard to original sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which through generation is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own.Humanae Generis
Pope Pius XII