MEDIA TWISTS PAPAL STATEMENT ON EVOLUTION
by Michael S. Rose, Editor, St. Catherine Review
[Editor's note: In response to a CWN news story last week about
Pope John Paul's statement regarding the theory of evolution-- a
statement which also provoked heavy coverage in the secular media-
- several readers have asked for more details. Following this
analysis by Michael Rose, we have reproduced extensive excerpts
from the Holy Father's remarks on the subject.]
Most, if not all, media reports last week failed to make clear the
meaning behind Pope John Paul II's message, delivered to the
Pontifical Academy of Sciences, concerning "theories of
evolution."
The Pope in no way gave the Church's consent to "Darwinism," as
has been widely reported. The scientific community itself has
already all but disproved this popular hypothesis. Nor did the
Pope write anything new concerning the Church's position on the
various theories of evolution.
Although Pope John Paul stated that evolutionism is certainly
valid as an hypothesis, he added that the theories of evolution
which consider the spirit as emerging from the forces of living
matter "are incompatible with the truth about man." Further,
several times he makes reference Pope Pius XII's 1950 encyclical,
Humani Generis, which addresses the subject of evolutionism as a
theory which can be used to undermine the foundations of Catholic
doctrine.
The Catholic Church does not forbid genuine scholarly research
with regard to the theories of evolution. She does, however, hold
as an absolute truth that souls are immediately created by God. No
honest scientific research or hypothesis, Pope John Paul said, can
contradict this truth. Some contemporary scientists, however,
inspired by anti-Christian philosophies, suggest that the origin
of the human body-- developing from lower life forms-- has already
been adequately demonstrated. The Church recognizes this argument
as false.
Pope John Paul has made no new pronouncement, as has been reported
lately, concerning the acceptability of any hypothesis of
evolution. He has merely reasserted that the scientific inquiry
into the origins of life is commendable as long as it is
recognized, above all, that the soul is created by God alone.
Conjectural opinions, often taken to be scientifically-proved
theories, continue to pose a problem for the Church. The current
Pope, much the same as his predecessor Pope Pius XII, continues to
condemn such false presumption insofar as it undermines essential
Christian revelation.
One such conjectural opinion is that of "polygenism," which
maintains that the human race did not come forth from a single set
of parents. Pope Pius XII writes of polygenism that "the faithful
cannot embrace that opinion which maintains that Adam represents a
certain number of first parents. Now it is in no way apparent how
such an opinion can be reconciled with [the doctrine of] original
sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual
Adam and which through generation is passed on to all and is
everyone as his own."
[EXCERPTS from Pope John Paul's statement]
We know in effect that truth cannot contradict truth."
In the domain of inanimate and animate nature, the evolution of
science and its applications make new questions arise. The Church
can grasp their scope all the better as she understands their
basic aspects.
Humani Generis considered the doctrine of 'evolutionism' as a
serious hypothesis, worthy of a more deeply studied investigation
and reflection on a par with the opposite hypothesis. ... Today,
more than a half century after this encyclical, new knowledge
leads us to recognize in the theory of evolution more than a
hypothesis. ... The convergence, neither sought nor induced, of
results of work done independently one from the other, constitutes
in itself a significant argument in favor of this theory.
The elaboration of a theory such as that of evolution, while
obeying the exigency of homogeneity with the data of observation,
borrows certain ideas from the philosophy of nature. To tell the
truth, more than the theory of evolution, one must speak of the
theories of evolution. .. There are thus materialistic and
reductionist readings and spiritual readings.
The magisterium of the Church is directly interested in the
question of evolution because this touches upon the concept of
man,... created in the image and likeness of God. ... Pius XII
underlined this essential point: 'if the origin of the human body
is sought in living matter which existed before it, the spiritual
soul is directly created by God.' Consequently, the theories of
evolution which, as a result of the philosophies which inspire
them, consider the spirit as emerging from forces of living matter
or as a simple epiphenomenon of this matter, are incompatible with
the truth about man. They are moreover incapable of laying the
foundation for the dignity of the person.
The sciences of observation describe and measure with ever greater
precision the multiple manifestations of life and place them on a
timeline. The moment of passing over to the spiritual is not the
object of an observation of this type... But the experience of
metaphysical knowledge, of the awareness of self and of its
reflexive nature, that of the moral conscience, that of liberty,
or still yet the aesthetic and religious experience, are within
the competence of philosophical analysis and reflection, while
theology extracts from it the final meaning according to the
Creator's designs.
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