I heard that the famous theoretical physicist
Stephen Hawking converted to Catholicism in the early 1990s (c. 1993 or 1994) and gave a talk at Georgetown where he acknowledged this. His conversion was not highly publicized. That he converted seems untrue because of his comments on Pope John Paul II in this
Associated Press article:
Could anybody corroborate whether Hawking is Catholic and whether Pope John Paul II said this to him?
I believe that the press is taking both quotes out of context. John Paul II said something close to that, but those are not his exact words. I can’t remember where I saw them or I would post a link for you. But I remember that he said that to explore the moment when the universe was conceived was to enter into the moment when God acted and this was humanly impossible and therefore futile.
Hawkins has said that he has studied the origin of the universe and that it can hpothetically be traced to a single point. He did jokingly speak about the Inquisition. I heard the soundtrack and his statement and tone were not disrespectful toward the Holy Father. He did misquote the Holy Father. However, as you watch the tape you realize that he’s speaking very spontaneously. He was being interviewed and the question was thrown at him from left field. He responded to the question in the manner that the interviewer worded it.
It’s unfortunate when these interviews take place, regardless of who the interviee is, that those reporting do not say that they answers were spontaneous and that the interviewer setup the question in such a way that led to the response.
This happens all too often and then it is reported that someone said such and such. Later, when that individual has time to think about what was really said, in this case by Pope John Paul, the person may have a much more cohesive response than he (Hawkins) had under the presure of the camera and the interviewer.
Hawkins never claimed that he has been told this by the Pope or that he had even read the Pope’s statement. He took the misquoted statement at face value and responded to it. The question implied that the Pope was telling scientists to back-off on this topic. That’s how the ascerbic response regarding the Inquisition got into the conversation.
This provoked a reaction from the Catholic League. Unfortunately, the Catholic League also responded to the interview and not to what Professor Hawkins would actually say if he had had access to Pope John Paul’s words.
There is a lot of fuss going around and it all begins with an interview that took the Pope’s words out of context and paraphrased them incorrectly and then proceeded to present Hawkins’ response as an absolute without mentioning their part in the confusion.
We have to be very careful with what is said in interviews that are extemporaneous. That’s one reason why the Vatican makes it a practice to ask reporters to write their question down ahead of time and then selects the questions to which they respond and prepare the response ahead of time.
Would that everyone did this.
If I recall where I saw this I will send you the link either via this thread or a PM. It was not as bloated as the media makes it sound.
Fraternally,
JR
