Three scientists, two of them Catholic biologists, have asked Pope Benedict XVI to clarify the Church's position on evolution in light of the recent statement by Cardinal Christoph Schinbrunn, an influential theologian, according to which the modern theory of evolution is incompatible with the Catholic faith
Three scientists, two of them Catholic biologists, have asked Pope Benedict XVI to clarify the Church's position on evolution in light of the recent statement by Cardinal Christoph Schinbrunn, an influential theologian, according to which the modern theory of evolution is incompatible with the Catholic faith.
The scientists asked the Pope to reaffirm the statements on this subject by the late Pope John Paul II and others according to which "scientific rationale and the ecclesiastical commitment to heavenly meaning in the understanding of the universe are not incompatible." "It is essential," they write in the letter, "that the Catholic Church does not build a new controversy that has long since been resolved between the scientific approach and the religious faith."
Lawrence Krauss, a physicist at Case University in Cleveland, wrote the letter on behalf of himself and two biologists, Francisco Ayala of the University of California, Irvine, and Kenneth Miller of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Ayla is a former Dominican priest, and Miller is a Catholic who has written about the reconciliation between science and faith.
Kraus and Ayala said they have spoken with other American scientists who are members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences who support their efforts. The Academy is a non-class international body established 400 years ago. According to Kraus, the copy of the letter is on its way to the Pope.
Schanborn's comments, appearing in a New York Times editorial, were in part a response to Kraus' May New York Times op-ed about reconciling religion and evolution. In his article, Schönborn, the archbishop of Vienna, says that the theory of evolution as it is perceived by scientists today is not correct.
