Evolution fine but no apology to Darwin: Vatican 

-- Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican said on Tuesday

the theory of evolution was compatible with the Bible but

planned no posthumous apology to Charles Darwin for the

cold reception it gave him 150 years ago.

Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, the Vatican's culture

minister, was speaking at the announcement of a Rome

conference of scientists, theologians and philosophers to

be held next March marking the 150th anniversary of the

publication of Darwin's "The Origin of Species."

Christian churches were long hostile to Darwin because

his theory conflicted with the literal biblical account of

creation.

Earlier this week a leading Anglican churchman, Rev.

Malcolm Brown, said the Church of England owed Darwin

an apology for the way his ideas were received by

Anglicans in Britain.

Pope Pius XII described evolution as a valid scientific

approach to the development of humans in 1950 and

Pope John Paul reiterated that in 1996. But Ravasi said

the Vatican had no intention of apologizing for earlier

negative views.

"Maybe we should abandon the idea of issuing apologies

as if history was a court eternally in session," he said,

adding that Darwin's theories were "never condemned by

the Catholic Church nor was his book ever banned."

Creationism is the belief that God created the world in six

days as described in the Bible. The Catholic Church does

not read the Genesis account of creation literally, saying

it is an allegory for the way God created the world.

Some other Christians, mostly conservative Protestants

in the United States, read Genesis literally and object to

evolution being taught in biology class in public high

schools.

Sarah Palin, the Republican candidate for the U.S. vice

presidency, said in 2006 that she supported teaching both

creationism and evolution in schools but has subsequently

said creationism does not have to be part of curriculum.

THEISTIC EVOLUTION

The Catholic Church teaches "theistic evolution," a stand

that accepts evolution as a scientific theory and sees no

reason why God could not have used a natural

evolutionary process in the forming of the human species.

It objects to using evolution as the basis for an atheist

philosophy that denies God's existence or any divine role

in creation. It also objects to using Genesis as a scientific

text.

As Ravasi put it, creationism belongs to the "strictly

theological sphere" and could not be used "ideologically in

science."

Professor Philip Sloan of Notre Dame University, which is

jointly holding next year's conference with Rome's

Pontifical Gregorian University, said the gathering would

be an important contribution to explaining the Catholic

stand on evolution.

"In the United States, and now elsewhere, we have an

ongoing public debate over evolution that has social,

political and religious dimensions," he said.

"Most of this debate has been taking place without a

strong Catholic theological presence, and the discussion

has suffered accordingly," he said.

Pope Benedict discussed these issues with his former

doctoral students at their annual meeting in 2006. In a

speech in Paris last week, he spoke out against biblical

literalism.

(Additional reporting by Tom Heneghan in Paris and Patsy

Wilson in Washington; editing by Robert Hart)

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