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Vatican Evolves On Evolution
By Michael P. Tremoglie, The Bulletin
The Vatican announced Tuesday that an international conference titled: “Biological Evolution: Facts and Theories, a critical appraisal 150 years after ‘The Origin of Species,” will be held in Rome from March 3 to 7. The Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and the University of Notre Dame, South Bend Indiana have jointly organized the congress. The Pontifical Council for Culture sponsors it as part of the STOQ Project (Science, Theology and the Ontological Quest).
The conference will focus on the anthropological questions concerning evolution and how that fits with “the epistemological and metaphysical fields and for the philosophy of nature.” There will also be two theological sessions to study evolution from the point of view of Christian faith.
The meeting was announced during a press conference with Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture and president of the Committee of Honour of the congress; Fr. Marc Leclerc S.J., professor of the philosophy of nature at the Gregorian University and director of the congress; Fr. Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti, professor of fundamental theology at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, and Saverio Forestiero, professor of zoology at Rome’s Torvergata University and a member of the organizing committee.
Archbishop Ravasi said the forthcoming congress responds to the need “to re-establish dialogue between science and faith, because neither of them can fully resolve the mystery of human beings and the universe.”
Prof. Forastiero said, “The relative fluidity of contemporary evolutionary theory is largely due to a series of discoveries made in the last quarter of a century, discoveries which require the synthetic theory to be reconfigured and could lead to a theory of evolution of the third generation.”
Fr. Tanzella-Nitti emphasized that “from the perspective of Christian theology, biological evolution and creation are by no means mutually exclusive. ... None of the evolutionary mechanisms opposes the affirmation that God wanted — in other words, created — man.”
Michael P. Tremoglie can be reached at mtremoglie@thebulletin.us
The conference will focus on the anthropological questions concerning evolution and how that fits with “the epistemological and metaphysical fields and for the philosophy of nature.” There will also be two theological sessions to study evolution from the point of view of Christian faith.
The meeting was announced during a press conference with Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture and president of the Committee of Honour of the congress; Fr. Marc Leclerc S.J., professor of the philosophy of nature at the Gregorian University and director of the congress; Fr. Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti, professor of fundamental theology at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, and Saverio Forestiero, professor of zoology at Rome’s Torvergata University and a member of the organizing committee.
Archbishop Ravasi said the forthcoming congress responds to the need “to re-establish dialogue between science and faith, because neither of them can fully resolve the mystery of human beings and the universe.”
Prof. Forastiero said, “The relative fluidity of contemporary evolutionary theory is largely due to a series of discoveries made in the last quarter of a century, discoveries which require the synthetic theory to be reconfigured and could lead to a theory of evolution of the third generation.”
Fr. Tanzella-Nitti emphasized that “from the perspective of Christian theology, biological evolution and creation are by no means mutually exclusive. ... None of the evolutionary mechanisms opposes the affirmation that God wanted — in other words, created — man.”
Michael P. Tremoglie can be reached at mtremoglie@thebulletin.us
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