Is human evolution accepted by the Catholic Church?

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1voice said:
Is this accurate?
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Yes and no.

Yes, in that the Catholic Church is not opposed to evolution.

No, in that the Catholic Church does not endorse evolution.

Jimmy Akin, Director of Apologetics and Evangelization for Catholic Answers, explains more fully:
Until such time as the magisterium would either reverse its twentieth-century finding that human evolution is not precluded by the deposit of faith or would make a new finding that it is required by the deposit, human evolution as a matter that is free with respect to the sources. It is a matter that must stand or fall on its own scientific merits; it is not a matter of Catholic teaching.
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catholic.com/thisrock/2004/0401bt.asp
 
Catholics are free to believe in human evolution or to reject it. However, the literal existence of Adam and Eve is part of Church teaching. Whether or not their sin involved the eating of an actual apple is a matter for scholars.
 
It’s my understanding that a Catholic can believe in either the literal Bibical creation or look at it as a metaphor for human evolution…either one is okay and approved by the Church. So, yes, the CC does not condemn the idea of evolution, but it doesn’t endorse it, either.
 
Yes I think the Church relies on science to explain the *how *while it concentrates on the why. 🙂
 
originally posted by Soler
However, the literal existence of Adam and Eve is part of Church teaching.
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Really?!? I was taught (by a priest) in R.C.I.A. that the Adam and Eve story in Genesis is just that; a story. It’s an analogy to illustrate a point and, to me, that makes much more sense than a literal interpretation.
 
catsrus said:
Really?!? I was taught (by a priest) in R.C.I.A. that the Adam and Eve story in Genesis is just that; a story. It’s an analogy to illustrate a point and, to me, that makes much more sense than a literal interpretation.
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Me too, but have you read the research that is moving towards a literal Adam and Eve? I.E. a literal genetic pair that are our first parents?
 
Soler said:
Catholics are free to believe in human evolution or to reject it. However, the literal existence of Adam and Eve is part of Church teaching.
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Yes, that was unknown to me before coming to CAF (I’ve learned so much here!) but it was affirmed by a 1950 encyclical by Pope Pius XII:
It is equally impermissible to dismiss the story of Adam and Eve and the fall (Gen. 2–3) as a fiction. A question often raised in this context is whether the human race descended from an original pair of two human beings (a teaching known as monogenism) or a pool of early human couples (a teaching known as polygenism).
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In this regard, Pope Pius XII stated: “When, however, there is question of another conjectural opinion, namely polygenism, the children of the Church by no means enjoy such liberty. For the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains either that after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parents of all, or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now, it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the teaching authority of the Church proposed with regard to original sin which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam in which through generation is passed onto all and is in everyone as his own” (Humani Generis 37).
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catholic.com/library/Adam_Eve_and_Evolution.asp
 
That was a historic announcement Dale because polygenism has since been scientifically disproven, so it just goes to show you how safely we are shepherded! 👍
 
Soler said:
Catholics are free to believe in human evolution or to reject it. However, the literal existence of Adam and Eve is part of Church teaching. Whether or not their sin involved the eating of an actual apple is a matter for scholars.
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Apple? What apple?
 
Sorry… didn’t see Dale’s post. I’ll leave mine with apologies for taking up bandwidth and storage space.
catsrus said:
Really?!? I was taught (by a priest) in R.C.I.A. that the Adam and Eve story in Genesis is just that; a story. It’s an analogy to illustrate a point and, to me, that makes much more sense than a literal interpretation.
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Negative. Father is incorrect.

The Church has taught infallibly that Adam and Eve are two real people from whome all humans are descendants.

ENCYCLICAL HUMANI GENERIS OF THE HOLY FATHER PIUS XII
12 August 1950

**37. When, however, there is question of another conjectural opinion, namely polygenism, the children of the Church by no means enjoy such liberty. For the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains that either after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all, or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled with that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the Teaching Authority of the Church propose with regard to original sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which, through generation, is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own.

Catholics are not free to believe that Adam and Eve are myths, that they are representitive of humanity as a whole, or that they are in any way metaphorical.

My anti-Catholic Evangelical literal six-day creationist friends were stunned when I told them this

-Tim-
 
TimothyH said:
Sorry… didn’t see Dale’s post. I’ll leave mine with apologies for taking up bandwidth and storage space.

Negative. Father is incorrect.

The Church has taught infallibly that Adam and Eve are two real people from whome all humans are descendants.

ENCYCLICAL HUMANI GENERIS OF THE HOLY FATHER PIUS XII
12 August 1950

***37. When, however, there is question of another conjectural opinion, namely polygenism, the children of the Church by no means enjoy such liberty. For the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains that either after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all, or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. ***Now it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled with that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the Teaching Authority of the Church propose with regard to original sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which, through generation, is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own.

Catholics are not free to believe that Adam and Eve are myths, that they are representitive of humanity as a whole, or that they are in any way metaphorical.

My anti-Catholic Evangelical literal six-day creationist friends were stunned when I told them this

-Tim-
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If human evolution is valid then the core facts in the Bible are invalidated.
In fact the key theme of the Old Testament would be completely destroyed.
One of the main prophecies about Jesus coming as Messiah rests on a specific blood line (documented in the Bible). The Jews were meticulous about keeping records of blood lines because they knew of the promise. Jesus was called the second Adam. ( Through one man sin entered the human race, likewise through one man we have been given redemption … somewhere in the NT) If there is a second Adam… There had to be a first… If the Bible is true.
And if it is true, without question, that Mary was a virgin when she bore Jesus … why is it so difficult to believe that God could create a man and woman to parent the human race?

Human evolution is a faith based theory with no physical fossil evidence that was created and promoted by atheists that despise the thought of being accountable to any higher being other than science.
 
Be very careful on relying on the "expertise’ of the people posting on this site.

The Roman Catholic Church does not, in any manner, require a belief in a literal Adam and Eve. It leaves that up to the individual, as it freely accepts the possibility (even the probability) that this Bible Story is a metaphor for the process of evolution.

The Church does not believe that each and every word in the Bible is the inherent truth, and the direct word of God.
 
The_Old_Medic said:
Be very careful on relying on the "expertise’ of the people posting on this site.

The Roman Catholic Church does not, in any manner, require a belief in a literal Adam and Eve. It leaves that up to the individual, as it freely accepts the possibility (even the probability) that this Bible Story is a metaphor for the process of evolution.

The Church does not believe that each and every word in the Bible is the inherent truth, and the direct word of God.
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Hath God said…?

Are you implying that those who choose the literal interpretation of the account of the creation of human beings in the Bible (and defend that choice with valid facts) are in error where the Catholic faith is concerned?
 
Humani Generis does not enjoy infallibility – you will note that in recent years no popes have quoted the parts of the document that condemn polygenism. Polygenism is condemned in *Humani Generis *because the Church has yet to define a method by which original sin could be transferred according to that model, not because it is believed to be intrinsically false. In recent years the Church has been increasingly open to the possibility of polygenism.

This document is written from a perspective of neutrality to polygenism:
#70 Catholic theology affirms that that the emergence of the first members of the human species (whether as individuals or in populations) represents an event that is not susceptible of a purely natural explanation and which can appropriately be attributed to divine intervention.
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(source: vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20040723_communion-stewardship_en.html)

Catholic theology has come a long way since 1950; so has science. What you’re witnessing is doctrine in development.

Check out these articles:

jimmyakin.org/2006/01/a_reader_writes.html
jimmyakin.org/2006/10/monogenism_scie.html
 
CMcLaurin said:
Humani Generis does not enjoy infallibility – you will note that in recent years no popes have quoted the parts of the document that condemn polygenism. Polygenism is condemned in *Humani Generis *because the Church has yet to define a method by which original sin could be transferred according to that model, not because it is believed to be intrinsically false. In recent years the Church has been increasingly open to the possibility of polygenism.

This document is written from a perspective of neutrality to polygenism:

(source: vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20040723_communion-stewardship_en.html)

Catholic theology has come a long way since 1950; so has science. What you’re witnessing is doctrine in development.

Check out these articles:

jimmyakin.org/2006/01/a_reader_writes.html
jimmyakin.org/2006/10/monogenism_scie.html
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How does all of this square with the genealogy of Jesus?
 
If you mean the account in Luke, it symbolically links Christ to Adam, portraying him as the new Adam. I doubt that particular genealogical account was ever meant to be understand as a literal record – that would make the earth only a few thousand years old in any event – which you’re certainly free to believe, but it isn’t good science or history.
 
CMcLaurin said:
Humani Generis does not enjoy infallibility – you will note that in recent years no popes have quoted the parts of the document that condemn polygenism. Polygenism is condemned in *Humani Generis *because the Church has yet to define a method by which original sin could be transferred according to that model, not because it is believed to be intrinsically false. In recent years the Church has been increasingly open to the possibility of polygenism.

This document is written from a perspective of neutrality to polygenism:

(source: vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20040723_communion-stewardship_en.html)

Catholic theology has come a long way since 1950; so has science. What you’re witnessing is doctrine in development.

Check out these articles:

jimmyakin.org/2006/01/a_reader_writes.html
jimmyakin.org/2006/10/monogenism_scie.html
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You’ve kicked it down a notch by referencing the International Theological Commission. They’re not an authority and they don’t define doctrine, they’re merely advisors.
 
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