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kong kong
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13 years ago
I would like to know how the Roman Catholic Church interprets evolution. If all life forms have grown in complexity over evolutionary time and if every existing species is derived from a preexisting species, what then started it all? What was the first living thing? Where did it come from? Where does God fit into the equation?

I need help answering these questions for my personal sake. Could anyone provide me references or information? Thinking Face
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Educator
13 years ago
Hey, welcome back.

Interestingly, the person who came up with the Big Bang Theory, to start with, was a devout Roman Catholic priest. The Church is not against evolution and, if anything, they are somewhat for it, which is highly unlike most literalistic sects who believe that earth began 6000 years ago and that the earth was created in six days. The Church also mentions that Genesis should only be taken as a religious truth, not historical evidence. Just as long as you believe God started the whole process and that everything occurred under God’s guidance, you should be fine.

Here's what the Catechism says:

"The question about the origins of the world and of man has been the object of many scientific studies which have splendidly enriched our knowledge of the age and dimensions of the cosmos, the development of life-forms and the appearance of man. These discoveries invite us to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator, prompting us to give him thanks for all his works and for the understanding and wisdom he gives to scholars and researchers" (CCC 283).

The Catechism explains that "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" (CCC 337), but "nothing exists that does not owe its existence to God the Creator. The world began when God’s word drew it out of nothingness; all existent beings, all of nature, and all human history is rooted in this primordial event, the very genesis by which the world was constituted and time begun" (CCC 338).

The Catholic Church has always taught that "no real disagreement can exist between the theologian and the scientist provided each keeps within his own limits. . . . If nevertheless there is a disagreement . . . it should be remembered that the sacred writers, or more truly ‘the Spirit of God who spoke through them, did not wish to teach men such truths (as the inner structure of visible objects) which do not help anyone to salvation’; and that, for this reason, rather than trying to provide a scientific exposition of nature, they sometimes describe and treat these matters either in a somewhat figurative language or as the common manner of speech those times required, and indeed still requires nowadays in everyday life, even amongst most learned people" (Leo XIII, Providentissimus Deus 18).
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