Catholic Cardinal Confirms RCC's Support for Theistic Evolution
by Jim Brown
October 12, 2005
(AgapePress) - Just two months after he sparked controversy with a New York Times article that seemed to say the Roman Catholic Church no longer accepted the theory of evolution, a senior cardinal has reaffirmed the church's historic support for theistic evolution. Last week Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn called the theory of evolution "one of the very great works of intellectual history," and said he "see[s] no problem combining belief in the Creator with the theory of evolution." He also said he has no problem with theistic evolution provided "the limits of scientific theory are respected."
For more than 100 years, the Roman Catholic Church has taken an open position on common descent, the theory that animals and plants are descended from a common ancestor. But as Pulitzer Prize-winning author and science historian Dr. Edward J. Larson notes, the Catholic Church teaches that the human soul was created separately, and could have been imparted into an evolved human body.
"The Catholic Church has held the line and maintained the position that the human soul is separate and that which creates humans as special, that which creates humans in the image of God, that that was a divine act," Larson explains.
Dr. Larson feels that the cardinal's latest comments clarify his Times column, which seemed to suggest the church backs intelligent design theory.
"One other thing that I've heard -- and I should qualify that this came to me from many different sources secondhand -- is that the story went around that the Archbishop didn't write this piece himself, but that rather it was written by the Discovery Institute for him," the author says. "The Discovery Institute is an advocacy group in America for the American version of intelligent design."
Larson says Cardinal Schoenborn's latest statement puts him in the "grand tradition" of the Catholic Church and in line with the beliefs of Pope John Paul II, who once told the Pontifical Academy of Sciences that evolution was "more than an hypothesis."
Larson, who teaches at the University of Georgia, is the author of several books, including Trial and Error: The American Controversy Over Creation and Evolution.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
