Topic
Faith & Science
Can a Catholic accept evolution and modern science? How faith and reason work together.
Questions about faith & science
All in Q&A
Does the Catholic Church accept evolution?
The Church does not oppose evolution as a scientific theory of how living things developed, and has never required a literal six-day reading of Genesis. What the Church insists on is that God created everything, that creation has purpose, that humanity descends from an original couple in a way that involves a real fall, and that each human soul is created directly by God.
Is hunting for sport okay?
Yes. God gave man stewardship over animals for just purposes, and man must not make them suffer or die needlessly. Responsible sport hunting — for food and skins, for wildlife management, or for the skill of the hunt — does not violate that. The Church does not oppose it.
How can a perfect God coexist with imperfection?
Easily. Anything God creates lacks his perfection, because it is not him. The universe lacking what God has is no threat to God, and God having it is no threat to the universe — which would cease to exist without him.
Is my friend's theory that God created more than one set of first parents heretical?
The theory is polygenism, and Pius XII taught in Humani Generis that the faithful cannot embrace it, since it is not apparent how it could be reconciled with original sin coming from one individual, Adam. As for Cain's wife, Adam and Eve had other children, including daughters.
How did dinosaurs die out if death entered the world only at the Fall?
Scripture is speaking of human death. It nowhere suggests animals were created immortal; only humans have immortal souls. So animals dying before the Fall doesn't conflict with Scripture.