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The Catholic Position. What is the Catholic position concerning belief or unbelief in evolution? The question may never be finally settled, but there are definite parameters to what is acceptable Catholic belief. Concerning cosmological evolution, the Church has infallibly defined that the universe was specially created out of nothing.
The Catholic Church holds no official position on the theory of creation or evolution, leaving the specifics of either theistic evolution or literal creationism to the individual within certain parameters established by the Church.
Today I will briefly outline the Church’s historical position on evolution through a series of documents and talks given by Popes in the last 66 years. First, it is important to understand that the Church makes no official pronouncements on matters of science.
Answer: The Church has never condemned the theory of evolution and has actually been fairly receptive to it: Pope Pius XII’s Humani Generis: The Teaching Authority of the Church does not forbid that, in conformity with the present state of human sciences and sacred theology, research and discussions, on the part of men experienced in both ...
The theory of evolution as a philosophical conception considers the entire history of the cosmos as an harmonious development, brought about by natural laws. This conception is in agreement with the Christian view of the universe. God is the Creator of heaven and earth.
For the most part, the church has resolved any tensions between religion and science. In 1950, in his encyclical Humani Generis (On the Human Person), Pope Pius XII expressed concern that the theory of evolution not be embraced uncritically.
In answer to the question on page eight, “May a Catholic believe in evolution?”, the book said: As the Church has made no pronouncement upon evolution, Catholics are perfectly free to accept evolution, either as a scientific hypothesis or as a philosophical speculation.
For example, the topic is never explicitly mentioned in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. My purpose in this article is to sketch in broad outline what the Church’s position has been and to answer some common objections to evolution made by Christians who are skeptical of it.
(A) The Catholic Church has repeatedly made clear that biological evolution is compatible with Christian belief. For example, Pope Benedict XVI said in a 2007 speech, “[Evolution and belief in a Creator] are presented [by some people] as alternatives that exclude each other.
The position of the Roman Catholic Church on the theory of evolution has changed over the last two centuries from a large period of no official mention, to a statement of neutrality in the early-1950s, to limited guarded acceptance in recent years, rejecting the materialistic and reductionist philosophies behind it, and insisting that the human ...