# Pope Says Evolution and The Big Bang Are Real **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 29, 2014, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894 "2014-10-29T11:50:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/41 "2014-10-30T18:49:04Z")
I didn’t mean to kick over a hornets nest. I simply wanted to acknowledge that this new Pope is a breath of fresh air. He’s actually discussing issues publicly that I’ve never heard any Pope address. Part of the problem is non Catholics don’t know what the modern Catholic Church teaches. Their official positions on issues are not generally known. Having the Pope discuss these issues is helpful. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/42 "2014-10-30T19:03:19Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I didn’t mean to kick over a hornets nest. I simply wanted to acknowledge that this new Pope is a breath of fresh air. He’s actually discussing issues publicly that I’ve never heard any Pope address. Part of the problem is non Catholics don’t know what the modern Catholic Church teaches. Their official positions on issues are not generally known. Having the Pope discuss these issues is helpful. > > Carry on. Oy vey. You didn’t kick over a hornet’s nest, you’re just stating that you don’t know what the Catholic Church teaches and all the information is…you know what, forget it. I can’t think of any way you can find out what their teaching are. It’s a mystery and no one talks about it anywhere. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![MaverocK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@MaverocK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaverocK)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/43 "2014-10-30T19:03:42Z")
> [@Kiber](#): > > I know other Popes have alluded to some of this - but [this](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-francis-declares-evolution-and-big-bang-theory-are-right-and-god-isnt-a-magician-with-a-magic-wand-9822514.html) at least feels like a big deal. > > I’m not Catholic - but my wife is and we raise our kids Catholic. So I’m very happy to see the Church embrace accepted science. Kudo’s to the Pope!!! If you are a Catholic, do you have to follow the Church? You can be a Catholic and interpret Christianity differently than other people. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/44 "2014-10-30T19:32:41Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > You’re really gonna have to find references beyond anecdotes (e.g. Behe as mentioned). The official line can’t possibly be more explicit in rejecting that. I’d like to see a cite that Behe ever said he believed in the separate creation of mankind. He has had at least one column in the Times explicitly accepting evolution. His divergence from the rest of science is his claim that he has found structures that had to be intelligently designed. Now, the creationists who have renamed their crap ID will claim special creation. Behe’s big sin seems to be that the lecture fees he gets for talking to them prevents him from telling them what idiots there are. Make no mistake, Behe is wrong, but he isn’t a creationist according to the usual sense of the word. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/45 "2014-10-30T19:47:14Z")
In other news, Pope says he’s Catholic. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/46 "2014-10-30T19:49:39Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I didn’t mean to kick over a hornets nest. I simply wanted to acknowledge that this new Pope is a breath of fresh air. He’s actually discussing issues publicly that I’ve never heard any Pope address. Part of the problem is non Catholics don’t know what the modern Catholic Church teaches. Their official positions on issues are not generally known. Having the Pope discuss these issues is helpful. > > Carry on. My goodness, I’m Jewish and I knew the Catholic church accepted evolution. Most of my friends who went to Catholic school were taught it, way back in the dark ages of the 1970s and 1980s. I actually find this Pope frustrating for stating accepted church doctrine as if it was something new, when it wasn’t , and getting credit for being more open. I’m glad his focus is on other issues than abortion and gays, but he’s said very little that’s truly new. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/47 "2014-10-30T20:06:48Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > I remember a workbook in Sunday school back in the mid-80s expressly referencing The Big Bang Theory as something all Catholics should believe because it jives perfectly with God as “the creator of the heavens and the Earth.” Right. As I learned from J P Moreland, TBBT was a great thing for Christian apologetics. Prior to that, the assumption among cosmologists was that the universe was in steady state and had always existed, which doesn’t leave much room for a Creator of the usual definition. TBBT gave God his job back! The Catholic church had already given up the idea of a young Earth. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > That can’t be right! > The show wasn’t even on in the mid-80s. Badump-bump! > [@aceplace57](#): > > My church has \*\*always \*\*accepted that Evolution is simply the mechanism used when God created the planet. I get it. Your church doesn’t predate Darwin. 😉 > [@aceplace57](#): > > AFAIK the Catholic Church has never officially accepted Evolution. Just like they don’t accept birth control. Those aren’t very analogous. One is a matter of fact: it’s either true or it’s false. The other is a matter of ethics and morality, whether it’s proper to do it or not. A church should be very careful whenever it makes a statement that’s a matter of testable fact (as the Catholic Church found out a number of times already). But we expect a religion to speak on value issues. > [@](#): > > I’m simply acknowledging that the Pope is bringing much needed clarity to an old issue. It’s always nice when the Pope says stuff I agree with, even if it’s not a change to the previous position, and I appreciate you bringing it to my attention. You simply didn’t realize that this isn’t a change in position. Hopefully, ignorance fought. > [@Bozuit](#): > > In other news, Pope says he’s Catholic. snicker ---
**Author:** ![Unpronounceable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de0a6/32.png) [@Unpronounceable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unpronounceable)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/48 "2014-10-30T20:20:06Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > I actually find this Pope frustrating for stating accepted church doctrine as if it was something new, when it wasn’t , and getting credit for being more open. I’m glad his focus is on other issues than abortion and gays, but he’s said very little that’s truly new. It’s backlash from the media coverage of Pope “Palapatine.” :rolleyes: He liked to open speeches with someone else’s opinion, then argue against it. The press never seemed to get past the opening quote. :smack: ☹ ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/49 "2014-10-30T20:20:20Z")
When I was in Catholic school we taught creationism in religion class and evolution in science class if I remember right. Nobody made a big deal out of it then. It has always been pretty well understould that the old testament is somewhat fictional. At least the Catholics I have been around mostly think this way. ---
**Author:** ![neofishboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neofishboy/32/444_2.png) [@neofishboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neofishboy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/50 "2014-10-30T23:15:13Z")
I was once told that the man who came up with the Big Bang Theory was a rodeo clown. Can anybody confirm this for me? ---
**Author:** ![Slowki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@Slowki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slowki)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/51 "2014-10-31T00:01:33Z")
> [@neofishboy](#): > > I was once told that the man who came up with the Big Bang Theory was a rodeo clown. Can anybody confirm this for me? [Catholic Priest](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Lema%C3%AEtre) according to the all knowing wiki. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/52 "2014-10-31T00:19:33Z")
> [@lost4life](#): > > Did anyone ever hear that it was a Catholic priest who came up with the Big Bang Theory…once, in 1931? How long did it take him? Was it somewhere between 15 and 25 minutes? > [@aceplace57](#): > > I’m not Catholic. I don’t know jack about their official Church positions. I just know they threatened to burn the scientists at the stake in the Age of Renaissance. When there’s only one (or two) churches, there’s only one choice! > [@](#): > > AFAIK the Catholic Church has never officially accepted Evolution. Just like they don’t accept birth control. > > I have no interest in Catholicism. I’m certainly not going to waste my time researching their official positions on every subject. > > I’m simply acknowledging that the Pope is bringing much needed clarity to an old issue. Clearly [anti-BC](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanae_Vitae). [Pro](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humani_generis)-[evolution](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_and_evolution#Pope_John_Paul_II). And hasn’t become less definite with more pronouncements. Clarity? Maybe. But it’s not his job to direct people towards what has long been a fact, when they can’t bother googling “christianity and evolution.” I have known some Catholics who are completely ignorant of this position, yes. But their existence does not undermine the doctrine. > [@Voyager](#): > > I’d like to see a cite that Behe ever said he believed in the separate creation of mankind. He has had at least one column in the Times explicitly accepting evolution. His divergence from the rest of science is his claim that he has found structures that had to be intelligently designed. > Now, the creationists who have renamed their crap ID will claim special creation. Behe’s big sin seems to be that the lecture fees he gets for talking to them prevents him from telling them what idiots there are. > Make no mistake, Behe is wrong, but he isn’t a creationist according to the usual sense of the word. I assumed the quoted was asking for _any_ pro-evolution statement by the Church, and not a very specific part of the doctrine nor a requirement that all faithful believe the same thing. I always thought he was a bit less disingenuous than the others associated with ID. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894.md?page=2)