The Pope was open to the science of evolution

"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 experiences in both fields, take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution, in as far as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter—for the Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God."

I think that's pretty cool.

as long as they believe in God? My respect for them just went up a notch.

I've read articles about Catholic clergy who double as biologists, astronomists, etc., and see no conflict between faith and evolution. Despite the absolutely shameful Galileo episode, the church is not necessarily anti-science.

mainly due to the Jesuit wing of the church from many hundred years that focused on education.

In the past the church of course came down on scientists like the "born-agains" are today.

Even most conservative catholics do accept evolution as it is not a important dogma point.

The Pope was very well educated as a philosopher, as I understand it.

compared to the rest of the church... but they also aren't a part of the official hierarchy of the church (i.e., there aren't any Jesuit bishops or Cardinals that I know of.)

Every Jesuit I've ever encountered seemed like a tolerant, peaceful individual. I credit four years at a Jesuit High School in Omaha for opening my eyes to what's really going on in the world. They are people who encourage debate and discussion and critical thought, even on issues of dogma. They don't ever presume to tell you what to believe, but rather allow you to form your own beliefs. I have much respect for them.

The Catholic Church in its present form is far more tolerant than it used to be. It's got a long way to go, yes. But I'd say that there has been quite a bit of progress over the past 50 years.

and has been taught science and evolution since kindergarten. Just because one believes in God or Jesus doesn't mean you can't believe in science.

It is, however, anti-literal reading of the bible as true in every respect.

Religions that aren't literalists, like the Catholics, aren't threatened by evolution theory.

That would be the right wing, fundamentalists.

Makes the fundies MAD!

I forget the exact official stance but it was like they accept evolution but disclaimer it with "God uses evolution", and ideas like that.

One thing I don't understand is how some religions have to be so stubborn towards science and can't reach a similar medium, the age of the earth, dinosaurs, the universe, even aliens don't necessarily have to disprove your religion if you change your ways of thinking and are more open minded, and a lot of the stuff like 6000 years old and the earth being flat etc is just crap humans made up.

I think it was Thomas Aquinas, who pointed out that faith and reason are not contradictory, and that if they were, either your faith was wrong, or your reason was. (But it's been a while since Church History, so my memory's a little fuzzy).

JPII was a mixed bag, surely, but I'll take his dogma over the fundies' any damn day.

<snip>Pope Pius XII, a deeply conservative man, directly addressed the issue of evolution in a 1950 encyclical, Humani Generis. The document makes plain the pope’s fervent hope that evolution will prove to be a passing scientific fad, and it attacks those persons who “imprudently and indiscreetly hold that evolution …explains the origin of all things.” Nonetheless, Pius XII states that nothing in Catholic doctrine is contradicted by a theory that suggests one specie might evolve into another—even if that specie is man. The Pope declared:

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 experiences in both fields, take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution, in as far as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter—for the Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God.

<snip>Big Bang theories become a problem for Catholic theology only when they consider “the moment of creation.” That, at least, is what Pope John Paul told Stephen Hawking and other physicists during an audience that followed a papal scientific conference on cosmology. The Pope told the physicists they should not inquire into the Big Bang itself because that was “the work of God.” Stephen W. Hawking, in his A Brief History of Time, reported that he was among those physicists whom the Pope privately addressed. He wrote:

I was glad then that he did no know the subject of the talk I had just given at the conference—the possibility that space-time was finite but had no boundary, which means that it had no beginning, no moment of Creation.

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/vaticanview.html

that he hoped would pass?

He was also opposed to stem cell research. This of course was a big issue during the campaign and was used against Kerry by numerous Catholic bishops.

"Hitler's Pope."

JP II, as the topic says, was okay with evolution.

I did misread that post, but it seems that JPII didn't have that different of a position on evolution. While he did state that this theory was worthy of exploration, he did not contradict Pius XII's stand and relied on his conclusions, that the Bible is the gospel truth.

excerpts:

http://www.cin.org/jp2evolu.html

Magisterium Is Concerned with Question of Evolution
For It Involves Conception of Man

Pope John Paul II

Message to Pontifical Academy of Sciences
October 22, 1996

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.

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).

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

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.

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, reduc tionist 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 ("animal enim a Deo immediate creari catholica fides nos retinere inhet"; Encyclical Humani generic, AAS 42 <1950>, p. 575).

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.

Funny when people try and rewrite history thinking we are all idiots. I knew something was up when the original poster copied and pasted one paragraph from this report and then just plain forgot to provide a link to the entire thing.

If I have learned anything in my 50 years of life it is that the most ignorant among us always assume that everyone else is just as ignorant as themselves. Never fails.

Don