In the light of the Neanderthals what is the Church's position on man being on earth only 6000 years?

Answer 1

Researchers have dated the oldest Neanderthal fossils to more than 200,000 years ago. But it is not just the Neanderthals that are changing the Church's position. Our own species, Homo sapiens has been dated to around 180,000 years ago, and this has now been confirmed by mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis and by analysis of male-only DNA in the Y chromosome (genetic material with no equivalent in the X chromosome). And predecessor hominin fossils have now been discovered, back to more than 6 million years ago. The Catholic Church's evolving stance on these discoveries can be seen by the following: Pope Pius XII stated in his encyclical Humani Generis (1950) that there was no opposition between evolution and the doctrine of the faith and that he considered the doctrine of "evolutionism" a serious hypothesis, worthy of investigation and in-depth study equal to that of the opposing hypothesis; Pope John Paul II, in an address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (1996), said that new knowledge has led to the recognition of the theory of evolution as more than a hypothesis; Pope Benedict has refused to endorse "intelligent design" theories, instead backing "theistic evolution" which considers that God created life through evolution with no clash between religion and science.

Answer 2

The Catholic Church does not have an official position on the age of the Earth or the timeline of human existence. The Church allows for a variety of viewpoints on this topic, including the acceptance of scientific evidence for the existence of Neanderthals and an Earth that is several billion years old. The Church's focus is on theological truths rather than scientific details.

Answer 3

Researchers have dated the oldest Neanderthal fossils to more than 200,000 years ago. But it is not just the Neanderthals that are changing the Church's position. Our own species, Homo sapiens has been dated to around 180,000 years ago, and this has now been confirmed by mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis and by analysis of male-only DNA in the Y chromosome (genetic material with no equivalent in the X chromosome). And predecessor hominin fossils have now been discovered, back to more than 6 million years ago.

The Catholic Church's evolving stance on these discoveries can be seen by the following:

Pope Pius XII stated in his encyclical Humani Generis (1950) that there was no opposition between evolution and the doctrine of the faith and that he considered the doctrine of "evolutionism" a serious hypothesis, worthy of investigation and in-depth study equal to that of the opposing hypothesis; Pope John Paul II, in an address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (1996), said that new knowledge has led to the recognition of the theory of evolution as more than a hypothesis; Pope Benedict has refused to endorse "intelligent design" theories, instead backing "theistic evolution" which considers that God created life through evolution with no clash between religion and science.

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