What is the Catholic Position on Creationism and Evolution?

In this Article

1. Introduction
2. Galileo
3. Inerrancy of Scripture
4. How are we to read the Bible? Literally, allegorically, or poetically.
5. The creation of the earth
6. The creation of the human body
7. The creation of the human soul
8. Did we literally come from one set of parents, Adam & Eve?
9. Intellectual humility is a necessity when reading Scripture.
10. Science can be the ally of Christianity, not the enemy of it.

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We Catholics have been around the block a bit when it comes to dealing with scientists. We learned a powerful lesson from our experience with Galileo. We learned we must be very slow and careful when we are making an official statement on Scripture and interpreting its application to science. Luckily we never made any dogma about the orbit of the earth. In fact, we generally don't drift into science, unless it has an implication on morality.

The Catholic Church has not set itself against science, nor does it subscribe to every whim of the scientific community. The Church is quick to applaud the scientific community when it does something great for humanity, like cure a disease. However, the Church will stand against scientists who stand against God, on such things as embryonic stem cell experimentation, which the barbaric practice of experimenting on little 5 day old humans. The big question that the Catholic Church asks when examining a scientific theory is "does it contradict Scripture?" which is infallible. This question is sometimes a lot more complicated than it first appears, which is what we found out with Galileo.

Introduction

People get really emotional about the subject of creationism, almost as if our salvation depends on whether or not we accept it. Some people attribute all of our modern problems to society's lack of belief in creationism. Other Christians say that the insistence to preach creationism is what alienates many reasonable people from the Bible and Christianity. They cite St. Thomas' warning:

"one should not try to defend the Christian faith with arguments that are so patently opposed to reason that the faith is made to look ridiculous... irrisio infidelium, the scorn of the unbelievers."

There are shrill voices on all sides. I'm not going to attempt to solve this issue in this article. Catholics are free to believe in creationism. The Church has no official position on it. Many faithful Catholics believe that God created the universe and all that is in it exactly word for word as it is laid out in Genesis - a young earth. Other good Catholics believe in an old earth. The Church has no defined Dogma regarding the specifics of how the earth and the human body were created. Nor does it think that we have to nail that down to be saved.

Galileo

Before going into the question of creationism. Let us examine what happened with Galileo. The Church ate humble pie with Galileo. Galileo was condemned by the Church for teaching a theory that was contrary to Scripture. Fr. Mateo of www.cin.org writes:

Galileo actually taught that the sun was at the center of the universe, not just the solar system; later evidence showed that the sun also orbits the center of the Milky Way galaxy; it thus would have been bad if the Church had given an unqualified endorsement to Galileo's theory, for his specific form of the theory turned out to be false.

It should also be noted that the "reformers" such as Luther, Calvin, Wesley also rejected the "Copernican" system (a round world spinning around the sun) that Galileo championed. Both Protestant and Catholic theologians interpreted scriptural references to the world being "immovable" to reject the idea that the world is spinning. (i.e., 1 Chronicles 16:30, Judges 50:31, Ecles 1:5, James 1:11a, Psalm 93:1, Psalm 96:10, and Psalm 104:5). This glitch in the reformer's interpretation of Scripture also shows one of the problems with the principle of Sola Scriptura.

In passages like "Yes, the world stands firm, never to be moved." (1 Chronicles 16:30b) God was not giving us scientific facts about the earth but rather, he was trying to a communicate spiritual truth. Just because humans interpreted Scripture wrong doesn't mean the Bible is infallible. It just means we didn't properly understand what God was saying to us in the passage. Our understanding of Scripture is evolving, but the Truth is unchanging. We are on a pilgrimage towards the Truth.

Inerrancy of Scripture

The Catholic position on Scripture has always been that it is without error on faith and morals and also on everything else. It is the word of God, word for word. The imperfect people who received inspiration to write it did not mess up when they put the pen to paper, even though they were fallible humans. Even with the rise of science Vatican I asserted it, Pope Leo XIII, Pope Pious XII, and Vatican II all reasserted the complete inerrancy of Scripture. The box to the right shows the councils and popes' reaffirmation of this truth.

Some modern "theologians" at Vatican II wanted to limit the inerrancy of Scripture to "faith and morals" allowing "errors" in Scripture on historical events, dates etc... but Pope VI stood by the Church's consistent position. The line "for the sake of our salvation" probably meant that God gave us Scripture for the purpose of our salvation. It does not make sense to say that God would put exactly what he wanted in Scripture and create an error there. To assume that the inspired writers made mistakes is to put the Bible on the same level as every other inspired book, which clearly it is not.

Interpretation of Scripture

When interpreting Scripture and what it is saying to humanity, we believe we must pay careful attention to the genre that is being presented. Some sections of the Bible are historical facts, some are allegories, others are poetic. For instance, the Gospel of Luke describes events from eyewitness accounts and therefore is historical. As for books like Job and Jonah, the Catholic Church says we don't know for sure.

Asking people to pay attention to literary genre does not imply that the Bible has errors. However, sometimes what is written needs to be distinguished from what is being asserted by the Holy Spirit throught the author.Let's consider a man who is in love with the woman. He might say something like this:

"Oh my love, your eyes are radiant pools of light, which transport me to the stars."

The woman replies: "No, my eyes are globules of protoplasm reflecting the color spectrum onto the back of my retinas, sending the signals to my brain."

Here the woman did not understand the genre with which the man was speaking. We must be very careful of the genre that each biblical passage is written in. If we misinterpret the genre, we may very well misinterpret what God is saying to us in that particular Scripture passage. Theologians call this hermeneutics. Each passage of Scripture is there to teach us something. Theologians must examine Scripture asking "what was God saying to us" and "what spiritual principles was he trying to communicate to humanity."

Did God create the world in seven literal days as we understand them today?

Some faithful Catholics believe that the book of Genesis describes word for word what happened when God made creation. In the first 3 days God created the sky, earth and water, in the next 3 days he populated sky, earth and water. Then on the last day he rested. They cite that the Hebrew word “Yom” is always used in the Bible as one literal day and they suggest that if we are asked to rest on the seventh day (as God did) then it is literally “one” day.

Other faithful Catholics consider Genesis to be a book of allegory. They say the number 7 in Scripture is often used to represent perfection, and that the 7 days of creation were not to be interpreted literally but rather to signify the perfection of God's creation. They believe "a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when its past or like a watch in the night" (Ps 90:4). This was St. Augustine's position in the 4th century. In other words, if there was a "Big Bang" and a certain amount of evolution within each species, it was God that made it happen and that the creation of the human being was something very deliberate and a singular event (even if there were a series of steps to get there). Pope John Paul II said that Genesis 1 and 2 are not trying to communicate scientific data to us. However, this is not an infallible statement. The Catechism says:

337 God himself created the visible world in all its richness, diversity and order. Scripture presents the work of the Creator symbolically as a succession of six days of divine "work", concluded by the "rest" of the seventh day. On the subject of creation, the sacred text teaches the truths revealed by God for our salvation, permitting us to "recognize the inner nature, the value and the ordering of the whole of creation to the praise of God." See also Chapters 282-289 of the Catechism.

The International Theological Commission, headed by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger now Pope Benedict XVI, held plenary sessions held in Rome 2000-2002, and wrote a paper "Communion and Stewardship: Human Persons Created in the Image of God," published July 2004. It weighed in on the side of an old earth. The full publication is here.

It appears the Church is leaning toward a symbolic interpretation of Genesis, although the faithful may hold either position as long as they believe in the three indisputable dogmatic facts (1) that God created everything out of nothing, (2) he created an orderly universe, and (3) that he sustains everything in being.

Evolution is not a fact, but a set of theories. Some of the theories are very compelling, such as fossil records and observed micro evolution within species, while many aspects of evolutionary theory have been proved wrong by science itself. The irreducible complexity of each species is something modern science has been unable to explain. A Catholic may interpret the book of Genesis literally or as an allegory. However any theory that is believed by a Catholic must meet the following criteria:

1. God created everything out of nothing ("ex nihlo" in Latin)
2. God created an orderly universe (the universe is not a product of chance)
3. God sustained everything in being (everything depends on God for existence)

How old is the Earth? How old is the Universe?

Some faithful Catholics have advanced the theory the the world is 4,000-6,000 years old by adding up all the generations listed in the Bible. Other faithful Catholics feel that that there are many documented skipped generations in those Biblical genealogies. They believe scientists that say the earth is about 4 billion years old and that the universe is 14 billion years old. Cardinal Ratzinger's comments above:

"... the progress of thought in the last two decades helps us to grasp anew the inner unity of creation and evolution and of faith and reason. It was a particular characteristic of the 19th century to appreciate the historicity of all things and the fact that they came into existence. It perceived that things that we used to consider as unchanging and immutable were the product of a long process of becoming. This was true not only in the realm of the human but also in that of nature. It became evident that the universe was not something like a huge box into which everything was put in a finished state, but that it was comparable instead to a living, growing tree that gradually lifts its branches higher and higher to the sky." Cardinal Ratzinger, In The Beginning: A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall, 1986, 1995

The Church is leaning toward an old earth theory, but the Church won't ever turn it into a Dogma (necessary belief). We don't even require people to believe the earth is round, even though science has proved it beyond a shadow of a doubt. We don't have to know everything about science to be saved. We simply need to believe in Jesus, surrender to him, and be baptised. Thank God.

The Creation of the Human Body

The Church does not have an official teaching on the origin of the human body. There are several faithful Catholic positions which are not contrary to Catholic theology.

1. Special creation: God directly created human beings.
2. Theistic evolution: God designs the laws of the universe, so that they will produce the human body through natural processes. (like a sculptor uses a chisel as a tool to create a statue - Indirect design).
3. Intelligent design: God designs the laws of the universe and intervenes directly in history. To create life in general and specifically human body.

A Catholic is free to believe that God formed the human body out of the dust of the earth in an instantaneous action or by a series of steps. Any of these theories may be accepted by a Catholic until God reveals to us otherwise. The important thing is the human soul. Cardinal Ratzinger who is now Pope Benedict XVI says:

"We cannot say: creation or evolution, inasmuch as these two things respond to two different realities. The story of the dust of the earth and the breath of God, which we just heard, does not in fact explain how human persons come to be but rather what they are. It explains their inmost origin and casts light on the project that they are. And, vice versa, the theory of evolution seeks to understand and describe biological developments. But in so doing it cannot explain where the 'project' of human persons comes from, nor their inner origin, nor their particular nature. To that extent we are faced here with two complementary -- rather than mutually exclusive -- realities."

The Creation of the Human Soul

On the creation of the soul, the Church has a very strong teaching. The human soul was deliberately created in the likeness and image of God.

• The human soul is not simply a byproduct of the human body.
• The human soul has the power to know abstract concepts, to know God (intellect)
• The human soul has the power to choose and to love (will)
• The human soul has unique dignity above the rest of visible creation.

The human being is a combination of human body and human soul. Regardless of any speculative ideas of evolutionary processes that God may or may not have used in the design of the human body, Adam and Eve became human beings when God infused their bodies with human souls. The creation of the human soul was created immediately. The "image and likeness of God" that we read about in Scripture may be referring to our soul.

Did we literally come from one set of parents, Adam & Eve?

There are many scientific theories that attempt to prove that there was no such thing as one man and one woman at the beginning of humanity. They theorize that there were a group of people who were our first parents (polygenism) They claim that Adam and Eve are archetypes for humanity. When this evolutionary theory began to gain momentum in the 50's, Pope Pious XII made a statement about it. The official position of the Church is that:

"Polygenism cannot be taught safely."

Although this statement is not yet infallible Dogma, it is as close as you can get, and it is the official Catholic position. It is against the Catholic faith to teach that humanity came from a group of first parents. Polygenism runs into some serious theological difficulties when we consider the implications of original sin and its transference through all of humanity. If there were a group of people in the beginning of time and only two of them made the mistake of eating apple. Then God's judgment against humanity would be unjust, because not all human beings would have spawned off of the two who made the errors. And therefore Jesus' role in redeeming the sin of Adam would be called into question.

We teach monogenism, that Adam and Eve were indeed our first parents. Many scientists try to deflect evidence that might point to the Bible. Catholic scientists and theologians are free to grapple with these difficult questions in their individual research, however, it would be considered wrong to teach it.

It is not contrary to the faith to believe that God created a species of creatures resembling humans through a series of evolutionary actions and then chose Adam and Eve into which to impart human souls, making them the only humans. What makes a human is the combination of a human body and a human soul. Animals do not sin. So even if there were a bunch of other creatures resembling humans running around, they would not be human unless God gave them souls, which would have only been given to two humans, Adam and Eve. It is worth noting that the scientific community embraced the idea of one set of parents (Mitochondrial Eve, Y-chromosomal Adam) in the 1990's although they argue with each other about all kinds of details. Maybe science and religion will unravel this mystery at some point. I don't know, but this is were I'm leaning right now.

Intellectual humility is a necessity when reading Scripture.

We believe that we must have intellectual humility when reading Scripture. The great theologian Augustine in the fourth century said this:

God wished difficulties to be scattered through the sacred books inspired by him, in order that we might be urged to read and scrutinize them more intensely, and, experiencing in a salutary manner our own limitations, we might be exercised into submission of mind. (Divino Afflante Spiritu, 45, cf. At. Augustine)

Augustine did not believe that God was making scientific assertions in Genesis, he may or may not be right. But regardless of whether we agree with his position on Genesis, his point about the difficulties in interpreting Scripture stand.

Science can be the ally of Christianity, not the enemy of it.

We must be very careful when we condemn science. When science is applied as a pure art, it is neither atheistic or religious. It simply tries to find the truth based on natural observation of phenomenon. However, what has happened in last century is that human secularism has tried to hijack science for its own purposes. Its purposes are to set itself against Christ and his message. Science when used in this way, is very dangerous, and it is resulting in all kinds of misdirected applications of research money, including experimentation on human embryos. This leads to all kinds of difficult moral questions. I believe the Catholics and Protestants need to actually win back the scientific community. The Catechism says:

159. Faith and science: "...methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are." [Vatican II GS 36:1]

Pope John Paul II said this:

Today, almost half a century after the publication of the encyclical, new knowledge has led to the recognition of the theory of evolution as more than a hypothesis. [the exact words in french were: Aujourdhui, près dun demi-siècle après la parution de l'encyclique, de nouvelles connaissances conduisent à reconnaitre dans la théorie de l'évolution plus qu'une hypothèse.] It is indeed remarkable that this theory has been progressively accepted by researchers, following a series of discoveries in various fields of knowledge. The convergence, neither sought nor fabricated, of the results of work that was conducted independently is in itself a significant argument in favor of this theory...rather than the theory of evolution, we should speak of several theories of evolution. On the one hand, this plurality has to do with the different explanations advanced for the mechanism of evolution, and on the other, with the various philosophies on which it is based... theories of evolution which, in accordance with the philosophies inspiring them, [that] consider the spirit as emerging from the forces of living matter or as a mere epiphenomenon of this matter, are incompatible with the truth about man. Nor are they able to ground the dignity of the person. (Address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, October 22, 1996)

Science can purify religion from error and superstition. Religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes. Each can draw the other into a wider world. A world in which both can flourish... (Physics, Philosophy, and Theology: A Common Quest for Understanding, 1988)

The Church does not propose that science should become religion or religion science. (JPII)

The unprecedented opportunity we have today is for a common interactive relationship in which each discipline retains its integrity, and yet it's radically open to the discoveries and insights of the other. (JPII)

Science cannot prove or disprove God's existence because God is outside the limits of empirical measurement. Therefore atheism is only a philosophy. Even with all the scientific quotes they use, it is not based on science. We must be very diligent in making sure human secularism based on atheism does not hijack science which is independent of any religious belief, including atheism.

"For my part, when I received those taking part in your Academy's plenary assembly on 31 October 1992, I had the opportunity, with regard to Galileo, to draw attention to the need of a rigorous hermeneutic for the correct interpretation of the inspired word. It is necessary to determine the proper sense of Scripture, while avoiding any unwarranted interpretations that make it say what it does not intend to say. In order to delineate the field of their own study, the exegete and the theologian must keep informed about the results achieved by the natural sciences."

Thanks to Fr. Terry Donahue for many of the insights in this article.

©2002 David MacDonald | Copyright notice |