[Varda]

Other than the fact that they report a rumor that turned out not to be true (Pope Benedict did not fire Father Coyne) this seems like a fairly good article.

[Claud]

“in matters that are obscure and far beyond our vision ... we should not rush in headlong and so firmly take our stand on one side that, if further progress in the search of truth justly undermines this position, we too fall with it. That would be to battle not for the teaching of Holy Scripture but for our own, wishing its teaching to conform to ours, whereas we ought to wish ours to conform to that of Sacred Scripture.”

-St. Augustine of Hippo

[dan1123]

But, he said: “We cannot haul 10,000 generations into the laboratory.”

You can't bring 10,000 layers of geological strata, a living dinosaur, a living pharoah, or a star into a laboratory either. There is more to science than Popperian falsification.

Ironically, some evolution proponents insist on Popperian falsification as the definition of science in order to attack Creationism or Intelligent Design. Everything would be a lot better if people would admit that science rests more on utility rather than logic.

[xzins]

The comments of this Pope, like those of John Paul II, best adhere to the doctrine of theistic evolution, which sees God creating by a process of evolution. This is accepted – openly or tacitly – by Roman Catholicism and the mainstream Protestant denominations.

The underlined part is wrong. "Mainstream" protestantism has changed considerably from what this author thinks it is.

There are very few adherents in those old protestant denominations compared to huge numbers in the conservative, evangelical churches -- whether denominational or independent.

The single largest faith type in the US is baptistic.

[Salvation]

Gotta love Pope Benedict — relying on the Bible!

[narses]

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[joebuck]

I don’t see evolution as such a problem. The “of their kind” in the creation accounts take care of that. I have no doubt God would have used something like micro-evolution within these “kinds” in order to insure survival of his creation in a dynamic, ever changing world. I don’t think science supports macro-evolution. I don’t want to turn this into an evolution thread, I just want to say I believe a thinking person can have faith in the Genesis account without feeling for a second they are compromising their intellect. I like this Pope.

[kosta50]

The Pople actually advanced the view that God created life through evolution, with the creation in Genesis explained as an allegory.

I couldn't agree more.

[Central Scrutiniser]

I was taught evolution all through K-12 Catholic school, I'm glad they did. They weren't afraid of science!

[Zionist Conspirator]

Ping.

[curiosity]

But last year, Benedict fired his chief astronomer, Father George Coyne, after the American Jesuit priest made similar comments in The Tablet.

Wow! Talk about getting your facts wrong. Father Coyne retired because he was diagnosed with colon cancer (he's also 73 years old, so he would have good reason to retire even if he weren't sick). Either this journalist is incompetent or a liar.