Thanks Dirk,
Fascinating. I did not know that the Catholic Church, as an entity, is
regularly referred to as "she."
The author does a great job of delineating scientific method, and clearly
acknowledges the incompatibility of metaphysical investigation and
scientific investigation. The primary issue/conflict seems to be the
development of the mind of a self-aware being, and how to explain it.
Over all, I would have to say kudos to the author and their obvious desire
to find a middle ground on the issue while continuing to support their
faith.
Mark Janzen
Registrar/Collections Manager
Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art
Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection
Wichita State University
(316)978-5850
Dirk Van
Tuerenhout
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Re: evolution, dogma, religious
right, and Discovery Institute
07/11/2005 10:23
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I would like to thank all of you who responded with creative ideas about
what one could do to make science exhibits more engaging to the public. A
long-term effort (of almost geologic time scale proportions) will be
required to keep setting the record straight and to keep informing people
what evolution is all about.
With regard to the position of the Vatican, here is the full text of the
Vatican position on this topic. It is dated 22 October 1996. It remains
the official Vatican position until further notice.
Thanks
Dirk Van Tuerenhout
" MESSAGE TO PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Magisterium is concerned with question of evolution, for it involves
conception of man
“Man is called to enter into a relationship of knowledge and love with God
himself, a relationship which will find its complete fulfilment beyond
time, in eternity. All the depth and grandeur of this vocation are revealed
to us in the mystery of the risen Christ (cf. Gaudium et spes, n. 22). It
is by virtue of his spiritual soul that the whole person possesses such a
dignity even in his body. Pius XII stressed this essential point: if the
human body takes its origin from pre-existent living matter, the spiritual
soul is immediately created by God”, the Holy Father said in a Message to
the members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences who had gathered in the
Vatican for their plenary assembly. The focus of the Pope's reflections was
the relationship between Revelation and theories of evolution. Here is a
translation of his Message, which was written in French and dated 22
October.
To the Members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences taking part in the
Plenary Assembly
With great pleasure I address cordial greetings to you, Mr President, and
to all of you who constitute the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, on the
occasion of your plenary assembly. I offer my best wishes in particular to
the new academicians, who have come to take part in your work for the
first time. I would also like to remember the academicians who died during
the past year, whom I commend to the Lord of life.
1. In celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Academy’s refoundation, I
would like to recall the intentions of my predecessor Pius XI, who wished
to surround himself with a select group of scholars, relying on them to
inform the Holy See in complete freedom about developments in scientific
research, and thereby to assist him in his reflections.
He asked those whom he called the Church's Senatus scientificus to serve
the truth. I again extend this same invitation to you today, certain that
we will all be able to profit from the fruitfulness of a trustful dialogue
between the Church and science (cf. Address to the Academy of Sciences, n.
1, 28 October 1986; L’Osservatore Romano English edition, 24 November
1986, p. 22).
Science at the dawn of the third millennium
2. I am pleased with the first theme you have chosen, that of the origins
of life and evolution, an essential subject which deeply interests the
Church, since Revelation, for its part, contains teaching concerning the
nature and origins of man. How do the conclusions reached by the various
scientific disciplines coincide with those contained in the message of
Revelation? And if, at first sight, there are apparent contradictions, in
what direction do we look for their solution? We know, in fact, that truth
cannot contradict truth (cf. Leo XIII, Encyclical Providentissimus Deus).
Moreover, to shed greater light on historical truth, your research on the
Church’s relations with science between the 16th and 18th centuries is of
great importance.
During this plenary session, you are undertaking a “reflection on science
at the dawn of the third millennium”, starting with the identification of
the principal problems created by the sciences and which affect humanity’s
future. With this step you point the way to solutions which will be
beneficial to the whole human community. In the domain of inanimate and
animate nature, the evolution of science and its applications gives rise to
new questions. The better the Church's knowledge is of their essential
aspects, the more she will understand their impact. Consequently, in
accordance with her specific mission she will be able to offer criteria for
discerning the moral conduct required of all human beings in view of their
integral salvation.
3. Before offering you several reflections that more specifically concern
the subject of the origin of life and its evolution, I would like to remind
you that the Magisterium of the Church has already made pronouncements on
these matters within the framework of her own competence. I will cite here
two interventions.
In his Encyclical Humani generis (1950), my predecessor Pius XII had
already stated that there was no opposition between evolution and the
doctrine of the faith about man and his vocation, on condition that one did
not lose sight of several indisputable points (cf. AAS 42 [1950], pp.
575-576). [Emphasis added.]
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 (cf. AAS 85 [1993], pp.
764-772; Address to the Pontifical Biblical Commission, 23 April 1993,
announcing the document on The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church:
AAS 86 [1994] pp. 232-243).
Evolution and the Church's Magisterium
4. Taking into account the state of scientific research at the time as well
as of the requirements of theology, the Encyclical Humani generis
considered the doctrine of “evolutionism” a serious hypothesis, worthy of
investigation and in-depth study equal to that of the opposing hypothesis.
Pius XII added two methodological conditions: that this opinion should not
be adopted as though it were a certain, proven doctrine and as though one
could totally prescind from Revelation with regard to the questions it
raises. He also spelled out the condition on which this opinion would be
compatible with the Christian faith, a point to which I will return.
Today, almost half a century after the publication of the Encyclical, new
knowledge has led to the recognition of more than one hypothesis in the
theory of evolution. 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 favour of this theory.
What is the significance of such a theory? To address this question is to
enter the field of epistemology. A theory is a metascientific elaboration,
distinct from the results of observation but consistent with them. By means
of it a series of independent data and facts can be related and interpreted
in a unified explanation. A theory's validity depends on whether or not it
can be verified; it is constantly tested against the facts; wherever it can
no longer explain the latter, it shows its limitations and unsuitability.
It must then be rethought.
Furthermore, while the formulation of a theory like that of evolution
complies with the need for consistency with the observed data, it borrows
certain notions from natural philosophy.
And, to tell the truth, 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. Hence the existence of materialist, reductionist and spiritualist
interpretations. What is to be decided here is the true role of philosophy
and, beyond it, of theology.
5. The Church’s Magisterium is directly concerned with the question of
evolution, for it involves the conception of man: Revelation teaches us
that he was created in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gn 1:27-29). The
conciliar Constitution Gaudium et spes has magnificently explained this
doctrine, which is pivotal to Christian thought. It recalled that man is
“the only creature on earth that God has wanted for its own sake” (n. 24).
In other terms, the human individual cannot be subordinated as a pure means
or a pure instrument, either to the species or to society; he has value per
se. He is a person. With his intellect and his will, he is capable of
forming a relationship of communion, solidarity and self-giving with his
peers. St Thomas observes that man’s likeness to God resides especially in
his speculative intellect, for his relationship with the object of his
knowledge resembles God’s relationship with what he has created (Summa
Theologica, I-II, q. 3, a. 5, ad 1). But even more, man is called to enter
into a relationship of knowledge and love with God himself, a relationship
which will find its complete fulfilment beyond time, in eternity. All the
depth and grandeur of this vocation are revealed to us in the mystery of
the risen Christ (cf. Gaudium et spes, n. 22). It is by virtue of his
spiritual soul that the whole person possesses such a dignity even in his
body. Pius XII stressed this essential point: if the human body takes its
origin from pre-existent living matter, the spiritual soul is immediately
created by God (“animas enim a Deo immediate creari catholica fides nos
retinere iubet”; Encyclical Humani generis, AAS 42 [1950], p. 575).
Consequently, theories of evolution which, in accordance with the
philosophies inspiring them, consider the mind 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.
6. With man, then, we find ourselves in the presence of an ontological
difference, an ontological leap, one could say. However, does not the
posing of such ontological discontinuity run counter to that physical
continuity which seems to be the main thread of research into evolution in
the field of physics and chemistry? Consideration of the method used in the
various branches of knowledge makes it possible to reconcile two points of
view which would seem irreconcilable. The sciences of observation describe
and measure the multiple manifestations of life with increasing precision
and correlate them with the time line. The moment of transition to the
spiritual cannot be the object of this kind of observation, which
nevertheless can discover at the experimental level a series of very
valuable signs indicating what is specific to the human being. But the
experience of metaphysical knowledge, of self-awareness and
self-reflection, of moral conscience, freedom, or again, of aesthetic and
religious experience, falls within the competence of philosophical analysis
and reflection, while theology brings out its ultimate meaning according to
the Creator’s plans.
We are called to enter eternal life
7. In conclusion, I would like to call to mind a Gospel truth which can
shed a higher light on the horizon of your research into the origins and
unfolding of living matter. The Bible in fact bears an extraordinary
message of life. It gives us a wise vision of life inasmuch as it describes
the loftiest forms of existence. This vision guided me in the Encyclical
which I dedicated to respect for human life, and which I called precisely
Evangelium vitae.
It is significant that in St John's Gospel life refers to the divine light
which Christ communicates to us. We are called to enter into eternal life,
that is to say, into the eternity of divine beatitude.
To warn us against the serious temptations threatening us, our Lord quotes
the great saying of Deuteronomy: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by
every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Dt 8:3; cf. Mt 4:4).
Even more, “life” is one of the most beautiful titles which the Bible
attributes to God. He is the living God.
I cordially invoke an abundance of divine blessings upon you and upon all
who are close to you.
From the Vatican, 22 October 1996.
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