Washington D.C., Jul 12, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Following a New York Times editorial by Vienna’s Cardinal Christoph Schonborn last week which stated that a “neo-Darwinist” idea of evolution--where an “unplanned” and “random” process, devoid of design is responsible for the earth‘s existence--is incompatible with the Catholic faith, a storm of debate over the Church’s true stand on evolution has ensued.
During a luncheon with the National Press Club yesterday, Washington DC’s Cardinal Theodore McCarrick said that “as long as in every understanding of evolution the hand of God is recognized as being present, we can accept that. In other words, it does not -- you need not say that creationism is the only answer, that in six days or seven days God made the world.”
The Church has stated that while the faithful needn’t necessarily believe in seven 24-hour periods in which God created the earth, they do need to acknowledge His creative action within the individual steps of the earth’s formation.
The Cardinal clarified that “John Paul II would say, yes, evolution is fine as long as it has a place for the creator; as long as it has a place for God. But you cannot say this is all an accident, this is all something that happened by coincidence -- that I cannot accept, that the church cannot accept. The will of God is involved here.”