The theories of evolution and the Big Bang are real and God is not “a magician with a magic wand”, Pope Francis has declared.

Speaking at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Pope made comments which experts said put an end to the “pseudo theories” of creationism and intelligent design that some argue were encouraged by his predecessor, Benedict XVI.

Francis explained that both scientific theories were not incompatible with the existence of a creator – arguing instead that they “require it”.

“When we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything. But that is not so,” Francis said.

He added: “He created human beings and let them develop according to the internal laws that he gave to each one so they would reach their fulfilment.

“The Big Bang, which today we hold to be the origin of the world, does not contradict the intervention of the divine creator but, rather, requires it.

“Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve.”

The Catholic Church has long had a reputation for being anti-science – most famously when Galileo faced the inquisition and was forced to retract his “heretic” theory that the Earth revolved around the Sun.

But Pope Francis’s comments were more in keeping with the progressive work of Pope Pius XII, who opened the door to the idea of evolution and actively welcomed the Big Bang theory. In 1996, John Paul II went further and suggested evolution was “more than a hypothesis” and “effectively proven fact”.

Yet more recently, Benedict XVI and his close advisors have apparently endorsed the idea that intelligent design underpins evolution – the idea that natural selection on its own is insufficient to explain the complexity of the world. In 2005, his close associate Cardinal Schoenborn wrote an article saying “evolution in the sense of common ancestry might be true, but evolution in the neo-Darwinian sense – an unguided, unplanned process – is not”.



Giovanni Bignami, a professor and president of Italy’s National Institute for Astrophysics, told the Italian news agency Adnkronos: “The pope’s statement is significant. We are the direct descendents from the Big Bang that created the universe. Evolution came from creation.”

Giulio Giorello, professor of the philosophy of science at Milan’s University degli Studi, told reporters that he believed Francis was “trying to reduce the emotion of dispute or presumed disputes” with science.

Despite the huge gulf in theological stance between his tenure and that of his predecessor, Francis praised Benedict XVI as he unveiled a bronze bust of him at the academy's headquarters in the Vatican Gardens.

“No one could ever say of him that study and science made him and his love for God and his neighbour wither,” Francis said, according to a translation by the Catholic News Service.

“On the contrary, knowledge, wisdom and prayer enlarged his heart and his spirit. Let us thank God for the gift that he gave the church and the world with the existence and the pontificate of Pope Benedict.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-francis-declares-evolution-and-big-bang-theory-are-right-and-god-isnt-a-magician-with-a-magic-wand-9822514.html

Ds z great, ,, , philosophical n scientific in nature. . liberal skul of tot...

I love this man, too. I never thought
that the Pope would have more
enlightened and liberal views than
many Republicans in the US. What is
happening to africa?

They should just re-write the religious books already...Let the enlightenment continue! Yes! #TeamSkeptic #TeamAgnostic

I don't see why everybody is praising the man. Admitting the truth of what has long been basic science is hardly praise worthy. Besides, his predecessors like pope Pius xii and pope John-Paul ii had already conceded this as far back as 1950.

And let's not ignore the fact that what he's proposing is theocentric or god-guided evolution which us just as unscientific and just as wrong as regular creationism. The whole point of the theory of evolution is that there is no plan and no agent guiding it. Life evolves via the mechanism of natural selection and no designer is needed to explain all the complexity of life.

If the pope is right and human beings evolved, that means there was no Adam and Eve. No Adam and Eve means no original sin and no need for a saviour to die for us. So is the pope going to admit that Christianity is all nonsense and disband the church? Is he going to stop fighting to deny women their bodily autonomy? Is he going to try and end the superstitious rituals that herd innocent children into the claws of pedøphiles?

Or is this just an empty PR move to make catholic dogma look less retãrded to an increasingly educated public? Just like when they eventually agreed that the earth wasn't the centre of the universe. And we still have less evidence of that than we do for evolution.

This pope had already flown the kite that scriptures may have to be reinterpreted.
I think this is perhaps the first step in this long and tricky process, knowing fully well that religious people are slow learners.

@ op. What next for the athiest? Convert to catholic?

malvisguy212:
@ op. What next for the athiest? Convert to catholic?

No catholics switching their brains to back to default mode. Now you Pope have spoken,you will definitely believe him whether he lied or not.

ifeness:


No catholics switching their brains to back to default mode. Now you Pope have spoken,you will definitely believe him whether he lied or not.

the whole world may turn there back, but i, even I,ME,i will never turn my back on God because i know what i see and what i her'd.

malvisguy212:
the whole world may turn there back, but i, even I,ME,i will never turn my back on God because i know what i see and what i her'd.

Is your god different from the Pope's god?

plaetton:


Is your god different from the Pope's god?

i dont know the god of the pope.but one thing i know, i know who God say he is, I AM sure, very much bro.

malvisguy212:
the whole world may turn there back, but i, even I,ME,i will never turn my back on God because i know what i see and what i her'd.

But the jewish god turned his back on you?

EvilBrain1:
I don't see why everybody is praising the man..

Most people are so eager to praise him for everything he does or says. It doesn't matter if it's senseless sh#t like washing feet, or common sense things like accepting the validity of scientific studies, he is praised regardless.

Just an old argentine who probably touched one too many boys in his lifetime................ but he washes the feet of the poor!!!! How humble!!

I wonder though, can the pope ask his boss, Mary's baby daddy, if he created Adam, Eve and the talking snake before evolution commenced or after. How did the talking snake evolve? Is the Adam and Eve story a metaphor for the evolution of apelike creatures to humans?

The Adam and Eve story is a metaphor for the evolution of apelike creatures to humans

Come to think of it, Christians who accept evolution should use this interpretation.

You're welcome.

plaetton:
This pope had already flown the kite that scriptures may have to be reinterpreted.
I think this is perhaps the first step in this long and tricky process, knowing fully well that religious people are slow learners.

there is no such thing as "first step" in what pope francis said.

His line of thought isn't particularly new nor his, he isn't the first pope to express the same sentiments, pope st John paul 2 already did before him as such statements are recognised as the personal opinions of the pope.


The catholic church has always taught that God created all things visible and invisible, the technique with which he did such mavelous work is of little importance. And since the big bang theory was proposed by a catholic priest it has always been the position of the church that in itself it doesn't contradict catholic teaching. The bang as any other "theory" could very well be the technique with which God created the world. Pope puis says the same thing for evolution.

It very well could be!

And each individual catholic could decide to accept or reject with neccesary caution those theories according to how convincing they are to him/her.

Ubenedictus:


there is no such thing as "first step" in what pope francis said.

His line of thought isn't particularly new nor his, he isn't the first pope to express the same sentiments, pope st John paul 2 already did before him as such statements are recognised as the personal opinions of the pope.


The catholic church has always taught that God created all things visible and invisible, the technique with which he did such mavelous work is of little importance. And since the big bang theory was proposed by a catholic priest it has always been the position of the church that in itself it doesn't contradict catholic teaching. The bang as any other "theory" could very well be the technique with which God created the world. Pope puis says the same thing for evolution.

It very well could be!

And each individual catholic could decide to accept or reject with neccesary caution those theories according to how convincing they are to him/her.

I don't see anything here that I could disagree with.

My point is that this Pope is slowly and cleverly guiding his flock in a new social engineering trajectory.
This time, as like before, old beliefs would have to be revised and updated to accommodate the ever changing realities of modern life.

To accomplish this long term goal, some parts of scriptures would have to be RE-INTERPRETED with new understandings.

Like you said, this is not new.
This is the way the MotherChurch and her (dysfunctional )children have evolved over the ages.

Martian:


Most people are so eager to praise him for everything he does or says. It doesn't matter if it's senseless sh#t like washing feet, or common sense things like accepting the validity of scientific studies, he is praised regardless.

Just an old argentine who probably touched one too many boys in his lifetime................ but he washes the feet of the poor!!!! How humble!!

I wonder though, can the pope ask his boss, Mary's baby daddy, if he created Adam, Eve and the talking snake before evolution commenced or after. How did the talking snake evolve? Is the Adam and Eve story a metaphor for the evolution of apelike creatures to humans?

You forget Martian, that admitting that you were wrong after 2000yrs of saying that you knew it all is not the easiest thing in the world.
I mean, look at the flak he is taking from Motherchurch's many dysfunctional children, the evangelicals.

He has to take it slowly, almost by drip-feeding them here and there with cognitive truths.

So here is the new version;

God said let there be light,

And Boom,

Big Bang!!

Peterken05:
So here is the new version;

God said let there be light,

And Boom,

Big Bang!!

Then he died.

I'm not surprised.....

musKeeto:

Then he died.

yh, of course. The cosmic hydrogen bomb wiped him out instantly.

Peterken05:
So here is the new version;

God said let there be light,

And Boom,

Big Bang!!

musKeeto:

Then he died.

Peterken05:
yh, of course. The cosmic hydrogen bomb wiped him out instantly.

creation ex deo

NOW, BACK ALIENS