British Catholics welcome Vatican's Darwin acceptance
Thursday, 12 February 2009 12:00 AM
By Jonathan Moore
The Vatican has claimed the theory of evolution is compatible with Christianity in a move welcomed by British Catholics on the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth.
Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, even said biological evolution complemented the Christian view of creation.
He said that despite previous hostility to evolutionary theory it could actually be traced to St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas.
"I think it's about time," said Seamus Crowe, spokesman for the Catholic Missionary Union, told politics.co.uk.
"I can only speak for myself as a Catholic but I think it's great and the wonder of our creation with the wonder of evolution is brilliant. I'm glad they've done it, it can only be good.
"I think people in different cultures, where there may be more archaic opinions, will perhaps have a different take on this but I think the on the whole Western world and most British Catholics will view this as a positive thing."
There had been speculation that Pope Benedict XVI may be preparing to endorse the theory of intelligent design.
However, organisers of the papal-backed conference to mark the 150th anniversary of On the Origin of Species said they had originally planned to ban intelligent design from the event, describing it as "poor theology and poor science".
Marc Leclerc, who teaches natural philosophy at the Gregorian University, said the time had come for a "rigorous and objective valuation" by the Church of Darwin.
He said too many groups opposed to evolutionary theory mistakenly claimed it was "totally incompatible with a religious vision of reality".
Writing in The Times on Monday, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster, said: "Science and religion are not mutually exclusive.
"They are partners on the journey of a mystery that unfolds, a truth that is everywhere present in the very creativity and variety of life itself."
He described evolution as "one of the greatest discoveries of all time" and said it was a "mistake to treat the theology of creation in the Book of Genesis as a scientific textbook".
Monsignor Ravasi insisted Darwin's theories have never been formally condemned by the Church.
As far back as 1950 Pope Pius XII said evolution was a valid scientific approach to the development of humans.
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