Pope Francis: Big Bang, evolution are real

Pope Francis said Tuesday the theories of evolution and the cosmological Big Bang theory are correct but do not contradict the intervention of a creator.

Speaking to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the pope's comments were counter to the creationist and "intelligent design" beliefs of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. They are also the latest in a series of provocative remarks interpreted as progressive and in opposition to tradition Catholic teaching.

He said, "When we read about creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything. But that is not so. He created human beings and let them develop according to the internal laws that he gave to each one so they would reach their fulfillment."

    "The Big Bang, which today we hold to be the origin of the world, does not contradict the intervention of the divine creator but, rather, requires it. Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve."

Giovanni Bignami, of Italy's National Institute for Astrophysics, commented, "The pope's statement is significant. We are the direct descendants from the Big Bang that created the universe. Evolution came from creation."

Benedict XVI and his advisers favored a view that intelligent design, a belief that natural selection alone is deficient in explaining the complexity of the world, was the preferred approach. A 2005 article by his close friend Cardinal Christof Shoenborn was critical of "evolution in the neo-Darwinian sense -- an unguided, unplanned process."

Despite his differences with Benedict XVI, Pope Francis visited the Academy, on the Vatican grounds, to unveil a bronze bust of him. UPI