Catholics and the Evolving Cosmos

This month marks the 60th anniversary of the papal encyclical “Humani Generis,” that laid out the Catholic Church’s official relationship with Darwinian evolution. The pastoral letter, issued on Aug. 12, 1950 by Pope Pius XII, confirmed, in broad terms, that there is no intrinsic conflict between Christianity and the scientific theory of evolution. Considering that this was three years before the nature of DNA was even discovered, the pope’s foresight in deciding to address the topic is remarkable.

Eugenio Pacelli, as Pius XII was known until his papacy, 1939-958, was the first pope to regard science and technology as subjects deserving their own encyclicals, or pastoral letters to Catholics world-wide.

For example, one of Pius’s longest (and last) encyclicals, “Miranda Prorsus” (“Utterly Amazing,” on Motion Pictures, Radio and Television), issued detailed guidelines on how Catholics in the entertainment industry should conduct themselves. In these days of downloadable pornography, and movies and music rife with sex and violence, the pope’s enthusiasm for the positive social potential of entertainment, what he termed “food for the mind especially during the hours of rest and recreation,” is touching.

In an ironic way the pope’s hopeful attitude leaves one with a much stronger sense of dismay over how the industry has evolved—or devolved—than if he had simply issued a blanket condemnation of the media as a whole.

But it was another encyclical that earned Pius XII a chapter in the annals of the history of science. “Humani Generis” (Of the Human Race) laid out the Catholic Church’s accommodation with Darwinian evolution—provided Christians believed the individual soul was not the product of purely material forces, but a direct creation by God.  Read Article

By John Farrell