No, the Church says we can accept evolution.
No it does not. The Church says the question can be examined, but it does not say that a Catholic can reject Scripture because Scripture doesn’t fit in with evolution. Insofar as someone can come up with an evolutionary-theory that does not contradict Scripture, they are perfectly free to believe it (as long as it is not obviously false) but modern evolution as taught in school objectively contradicts Scripture.
Adam could not be a proto-human, as he must be of the same species as Jesus in order for the sacrifice of Jesus to have efficacy for the absolution of Adam’s sin. The nature assumed must be the same. Therefore the theories that suggest Adam was a proto-human but not a homo-sapien must be incorrect. However, evolutionary theory suggests that proto-humans and Neanderthals were creative, thinking, speaking, social creatures. This would mean they are the “true men before Adam” in which Pope Pius forbid belief. Otherwise we would have to believe that God created thinking, speaking, loving, creative beings but did not give them immortal souls, which means they were capable of seeking God, but were incapable of finding Him, and when they died they were annihilated. That is an abhorrent belief, and flies in the face of God’s Love, His Mercy, and His Justice. It borders on blasphemy to suggest a loving God would do such a thing. Not only is it directly contradictory to the Bible (that Adam was formed out of dust and Eve from the rib of Adam) but it is a disgusting assault on the dignity of Man, and an even more disgusting assault on the Nature of God.
As far as evolution of the animal (non-human) species goes, this is less troublesome, but still contradictory. God said that each animal would be brought forth “according to its kind”. What evolution of the species suggests is that one kind of animal can bring forth another kind of animal, and that we could go so far along this path that a single-celled organism could eventually bring forth a horse. Further, the evolution of the non-human species would call into question that physical and literal reality of Noah and the Flood. So it not only contradicts the actual written story, but the contradictions, like a disease, spread throughout the whole of Scripture. Very quickly everything becomes allegory and metaphor, and we no longer have an actual history of God and Man, but rather a confusing mess with no physical reality. The Flesh and Blood God becomes a series of abstract principles and allegories. We have to arbitrarily pick and choose where we decide to start taking things literally and where we decide it’s actually an allegory. Further it puts us into the habit of holding Scripture to the standard of outside evidence; effectively saying “I will only believe God is telling the truth if science confirms it”. Well science has yet to confirm almost anything in the Bible, and everything in the Bible can reasonably be seen as allegorical.
