Is it true that Catholics must not believe in evolution?

Answer 1

It depends on the individuals thought, some people do believe God created through evolution, and some people believe God created everything one by one using clay. But the Catholic Church doesn't say there is no evolution. A lot of Catholics believe that God made all things using evolution. But science itself cannot explain how life originated in the first place, and why we are more intelligent than other animals.

The book of Genesis should not be taken 100% literally. For example, the book says that God created the world in 6 days, but the second book of Peter Chapter 3 verse 8 says "With the Lord one day is like a thousand years". When God was creating the universe, before he made night and day, there were no days to start with!

The Bible does not contradict with the evolution theory nor does it contradict with science.

Answer 2

Yes!

In an October 22, 1996, address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Pope John Paul II updated the Church's position to accept evolution of the human body: "In his encyclical Humani Generis (1950), my predecessor Pius XII has already affirmed that there is no conflict between evolution and the doctrine of the faith regarding man and his vocation, provided that we do not lose sight of certain fixed points....Today, more than a half-century after the appearance of that encyclical, some new findings lead us toward the recognition of evolution as more than a hypothesis. In fact it is remarkable that this theory has had progressively greater influence on the spirit of researchers, following a series of discoveries in different scholarly disciplines. The convergence in the results of these independent studies - which was neither planned nor sought - constitutes in itself a significant argument in favor of the theory."

In the same address, Pope John Paul II rejected any theory of evolution that provides a materialistic explanation for the human soul: "Theories of evolution which, because of the philosophies which inspire them, regard the spirit either as emerging from the forces of living matter, or as a simple epiphenomenon of that matter, are incompatible with the truth about man."

What this means in essence is that the Catholic Church believes God created the universe and set in motion a process that includes evolution.

However the Church rejects the the human 'soul' or 'spirit' is part of evolution and the spirit/soul can only come about by the express creation of that soul/spirit at the moment of conception by God.

Roman Catholic AnswerI should like to point out that the Church does not believe in Evolution, the way that It believes in the resurrection, for instance. The Church allows that micro evolution may have taken place. This is not the same as saying that the Church "believes" in evolution. The Church "believes" in revelation, the Church believes that man was created by God. The Church has no firm "belief" in how God did that, and allows that evolution is a possible explanation. There, clear as mud, right?

Answer 3

No it is not. Catholics are allowed to believe in Darwin's theory of Evolution.

The Vatican has admitted that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution should not have been dismissed and claimed it is compatible with the Christian view of Creation.

Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said while the Church had been hostile to Darwin's theory in the past, the idea of evolution could be traced to St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas.

Father Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti, Professor of Theology at the Pontifical Santa Croce University in Rome, added that 4th century theologian St Augustine had "never heard the term evolution, but knew that big fish eat smaller fish" and forms of life had been transformed "slowly over time". Aquinas made similar observations in the Middle Ages.

Answer 4

The Catholic Church has no particular doctrine on evolution. One is free to accept it or deny it. However, one must believe that, no matter how creation occurred, God was the Supreme Being that set all in motion and continues to keep all things in existence.

Answer 5

Generally they choose not to.

However many Catholics are accepting the theory of evolution alongside the story of Adam and Eve. The church is changing its opinions rapidly, particularly in Europe.

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AnswerThe Catholic Church does not have a definitive "last word" on evolution, and may never have such a definition. However there are things that a Catholic must be believe in, and there are a few things that they most definitely may not believe in it. Outside of those parameters, an individual Catholic may hold any opinion he wishes, as long as it accompadates everything that the Church teaches:

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from the website, Catholic Answers

What is the Catholic position concerning belief or unbelief in evolution? The question may never be finally settled, but there are definite parameters to what is acceptable Catholic belief.

Concerning cosmological evolution, the Church has infallibly defined that the universe was specially created out of nothing. Vatican I solemnly defined that everyone must "confess the world and all things which are contained in it, both spiritual and material, as regards their whole substance, have been produced by God from nothing" (Canons on God the Creator of All Things, canon 5).

The Church does not have an official position on whether the stars, nebulae, and planets we see today were created at that time or whether they developed over time (for example, in the aftermath of the Big Bang that modern cosmologists discuss). However, the Church would maintain that, if the stars and planets did develop over time, this still ultimately must be attributed to God and his plan, for Scripture records: "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host [stars, nebulae, planets] by the breath of his mouth" (Ps. 33:6).

Concerning biological evolution, the Church does not have an official position on whether various life forms developed over the course of time. However, it says that, if they did develop, then they did so under the impetus and guidance of God, and their ultimate creation must be ascribed to him.

Concerning human evolution, the Church has a more definite teaching. It allows for the possibility that man's bodydeveloped from previous biological forms, under God's guidance, but it insists on the special creation of his soul. Pope Pius XII declared that "the teaching authority of the Church does not forbid that, in conformity with the present state of human sciences and sacred theology, research and discussions . . . take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution, in as far as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter-[but] the Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God" (Pius XII, Humani Generis 36). So whether the human body was specially created or developed, we are required to hold as a matter of Catholic faith that the human soul is specially created; it did not evolve, and it is not inherited from our parents, as our bodies are.

While the Church permits belief in either special creation or developmental creation on certain questions, it in no circumstances permits belief in atheistic evolution.

Answer 6

The church teaches that the bible account of creation is a divinely inspired story of creation to explain to man and woman of the time, and is not in conflict with evolution, should evolution be true.