Surely not. The Pope and Darwin would probably never be BFFs.
But if Darwin were alive, the two might respect each other. The Pope said yup to evolution and the big bang theory. Sounds huge. It’s important to ask – are his words really revolutionary?
Amidst the praise and talk of his progressive statements, a few sources have reminded us that the Catholic Church hasn’t objected to evolution since 1950. In 1996, Pope John Paul II stated evolution was “more than a hypothesis.”
Nevertheless, Pope Francis’ comments that God is not a “magician” seem to stand out. Even though he restated that “evolution is not inconsistent with creation,” this Pope seems to have a way of phrasing things in a strong way that attract our ears.
If he didn’t say anything revolutionary, he reaffirmed something that many may have forgotten: it’s not about choosing science over religion or vice versa. The two don’t have to contradict each other.
So what’s next? The establishment that has been behind teaching creationism in schools isn’t Catholic, but maybe the Pope’s comments could be another nail in the coffin for the whole “public-schools-denying-evolution” thing.
As Darwin said,
“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.”
The Catholic Church seems to get it.
