The spiritual leader of the Catholic Church believes that God and science can coexist.
In a significant change from the rhetoric of his predecessor, Pope Francis told members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences Monday that theories of evolution and the "Big Bang" are real - and God's work can be found in them.
God is not "a magician with a magic wand," the Pope said during an opening session to discuss concepts of nature.
Most scientific theories about the origins of life "require" a belief in God, he said.
"Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve," he said.
The "Big Bang" theory that science takes as gospel can also be viewed as evidence of God's existence, the Pope explained.
"The beginning of the world is not the work of chaos that owes its origin to something else, but it derives directly from a supreme principle that creates out of love," he noted.
Francis' progressive words were a marked contrast to the Catholic Church's attitude toward science centuries ago.
The institution famously condemned 17th-century astronomer Galileo for claiming the Earth revolved around the sun.
In recent decades the church has been more open to scientific discovery.
Pope Pius XII described evolution as a valid scientific approach to the development of humans in 1950 and Pope John Paul reiterated that in 1996.
But in 2011, Benedict XVI said scientific theories left many questions unanswered.
With News Wire Services
No comments:
Post a Comment