Catholic Views On Creation

Catholic views on Creationism have undergone change over time. Though Fundamentalist Christians often maintain that Catholicism has embraced a literal reading of the Bible throughout much of its history, the writings of the early church fathers show that such a blanket statement is not valid.

Evolution

By the middle of the twentieth century, Pope Pius XII took the position that the theory of evolution did not go against Church teachings. This view was reaffirmed by Pope John Paul II who went even further in 1996 when he noted that the theory of evolution is "more than a hypothesis" and that "truth cannot contradict truth," meaning that science and a belief in God can harmoniously coexist.

Intelligent Design

According to the director of the Vatican observatory, Father George V. Coyne, a Catholic and a theistic scientist, the theory of Intelligent Design belittles the power of God to nurture a Creation over a long period of time without being "a dictator God". Coyne agrees with John Paul's statement that evolution is a "fundamental church teaching" and should be treated as such. Coyne stresses that this view is not new, and that it was first introduced by the noted theologian St. Thomas Aquinas. The Cardinal archbishop of Vienna has spoken out against a neo-Darwinian view of evolution that sees the phenomenon as “an unguided, unplanned process of random variation and natural selection”. The Vatican itself has never taken an official position on the issue.