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This statement has sometimes been translated as saying that evolution is "more than a hypothesis",<ref>James Akin [http://www.cin.org/users/james/files/whatsaid.htm]</ref> and used to support the claim that the Pope has recognized the truth of evolution. Regardless of which translation is better, the Pope was certainly not saying that evolution was a single hypothesis that must now be accepted. He was saying that scientific advances have made the situation more complicated than was previously recognized. He went on to say that "we should speak of several theories of evolution". Some of these theories are compatible with Catholic teachings, and some are not.

This statement has sometimes been translated as saying that evolution is "more than a hypothesis",<ref>James Akin [http://www.cin.org/users/james/files/whatsaid.htm]</ref> and used to support the claim that the Pope has recognized the truth of evolution. Regardless of which translation is better, the Pope was certainly not saying that evolution was a single hypothesis that must now be accepted. He was saying that scientific advances have made the situation more complicated than was previously recognized. He went on to say that "we should speak of several theories of evolution". Some of these theories are compatible with Catholic teachings, and some are not.

In an interview that was published in 1997, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) stated:

In an interview that was published in 1997, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now [[Pope Benedict XVI]]y) stated:

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Part of faith is also the patience of time.  The theme you have just mentioned - Darwin, creation, the theory of evolution - is the subject of a dialogue that is not yet finished and, within our present means, is probably also impossible to settle at the moment.  Not that the problem of the six days is a particularly urgent issue between faith and modern scientific research into the origin of the world.  For it is obvious even in the Bible that this is a theological framework and is not intended simply to recount the history of creation.  In the Old Testament itself there are other accounts of creation.  In the Book of Job and in the Wisdom literature we have creation narratives that make it clear that even then believers themselves did not think that the creation account was, so to speak, a photographic depiction of the process of creation.  It only seeks to convey a glimpse of the essential truth, namely, that the world comes from the power of God and is his creation.  How the process actually occurred is a wholly different question, which even the Bible itself leaves wide open.  Conversely, I think that in great measure the theory of evolution has not gotten beyond hypotheses and is often mixed with almost mythical philosophies that have yet to be critically discussed.<ref>Interview by Peter Seewald with Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, in Munich, F.G.R. (Aug. 15, 1996) ''reprinted in'' Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Salt of the Earth: Christianity and the Catholic Church at the End of the Millennium 31 (Adrian Walker trans., Ingnatius Press 1997) (1996).</ref></blockquote>

Part of faith is also the patience of time.  The theme you have just mentioned - Darwin, creation, the theory of evolution - is the subject of a dialogue that is not yet finished and, within our present means, is probably also impossible to settle at the moment.  Not that the problem of the six days is a particularly urgent issue between faith and modern scientific research into the origin of the world.  For it is obvious even in the Bible that this is a theological framework and is not intended simply to recount the history of creation.  In the Old Testament itself there are other accounts of creation.  In the Book of Job and in the Wisdom literature we have creation narratives that make it clear that even then believers themselves did not think that the creation account was, so to speak, a photographic depiction of the process of creation.  It only seeks to convey a glimpse of the essential truth, namely, that the world comes from the power of God and is his creation.  How the process actually occurred is a wholly different question, which even the Bible itself leaves wide open.  Conversely, I think that in great measure the theory of evolution has not gotten beyond hypotheses and is often mixed with almost mythical philosophies that have yet to be critically discussed.<ref>Interview by Peter Seewald with Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, in Munich, F.G.R. (Aug. 15, 1996) ''reprinted in'' Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Salt of the Earth: Christianity and the Catholic Church at the End of the Millennium 31 (Adrian Walker trans., Ingnatius Press 1997) (1996).</ref></blockquote>