Denis Greenan, "Pope to grapple with Darwin. Benedict to brainstorm with 'Creationism row' cardinal" (2006)

Home > News in English > News  » Today   Pope to grapple with Darwin Benedict to brainstorm with 'Creationism row' cardinal by Denis Greenan . > <br> (ANSA) - Rimini, August 24 - Pope Benedict XVI is to brainstorm on evolution with a top theologian accused of championing controversial theories that rubbish Darwin . > <br> The theologian, Vienna Archbishop Christoph Schoenborn, announced the September 1-3 session at a Catholic rally this week where he reaffirmed his belief that the universe could not have come about in a random way . > <br> However, this time Schoenborn was keen to stress that so-called 'intelligent design' - a subject of massive controversy in the United States - did not rule out some element of "the unplanned" . > <br> "The alternative to the process of pure chance is not absolute determinism but rather the interaction between the actions of creatures and the divine creator who sustains their actions," Schoenberg told the influential conservative Catholic youth movement Comunione e Liberazione . > <br> The closed-door think-in at the pope's summer residence of Castelgandolfo is expected to nail down a firmer position on evolution, which has been keenly debated since Pope John Paul II's famous pronouncement that Darwinism was "not just a theory" . > <br> The Church has been accused of sending mixed signals, with Schoenberg's views being challenged by prominent Catholic scientists and some theologians. Schoenborn, a former university pupil of the pope's, grabbed headlines a year ago with a New York Times editorial seen as backing moves to teach intelligent-design theories alongside Darwinism . > <br> This week the prelate said his NYT article had been misconstrued but admitted that it had been a little too "cut-and-dried," laying it open to misinterpretation . > <br> Supporters of intelligent design (ID) pounced on the article in their fight to win intellectual credibility for a theory most scientists see as Creationism - the core Bible story - dressed up to gain bogus respectability . > <br> In response to Schoenborn's blast against Darwinism, the director of the Vatican Observatory, Father George Coyne, said critics of evolutionary theory underestimated God's willingness to give "freedom" to Nature . > <br> The Baltimore-born Jesuut, 73, who has just stepped down after 28 years at the helm of the Vatican's flagship science programme, rapped Schoenborn for "underestimating" the US context in which he was speaking and branded Creationism as "a religious movement devoid of all scientific basis" . > <br> Schoenborn responded by clarifying his position, saying that evolution as a body of scientific fact was compatible with Catholicism, but that evolution as an ideological dogma that denied design and purpose in Nature was not. In the months that followed, the Vatican newspaper ran a piece by another leading Catholic scientist who said ID wasn't science . > <br> Fiorenzo Facchini, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Bologna, said teaching it alongside evolutionary theory only creates confusion . > <br> Like Coyne, Facchini said ID should be confined to religion classes . > <br> On Wednesday Schoenborn - a media-friendly intellectual heavyweight tipped by many to get the job that eventually fell to Benedict - steered clear of where such theories should be taught . > <br> But he stressed that more attention should be given to the holes in Darwin's theory, "which (Darwin) himself recognised and regretted" . > <br> "The open questions of the theory of evolution should be exposed" rather than pushing Darwinism as the explanation for how life developed, the cardinal said . > <br> In a veiled reference to Coyne, Schoenberg also cast doubt on the propriety of a religious figure coming out in favour of Darwinism . > <br> Coyne, who is undergoing chemotherapy for colon cancer, has been forced to quit because of the pressures of work at a prestigious astronomy lab that has offshoots all over the world, including Arizona in the US . > <br> Shortly before filing his retirement request this month, the stargazer penned an article for the authoritative science monthly Newton in which he said "God isn't a designer and life is the fruit of billions of attempts" . > <br> "People who want to see designers...should go to Milan or, if they're looking for engineers, to Dubai where they're building a whole new city," Coyne wrote. The Vatican has denied a report in the London-based Daily Mail that the ailing prelate was "removed" because he had "irritated" the pope . > <br> Benedict - who taught Schoenborn at Regensburg in Germany before becoming the Vatican's dogma watchdog, his previous job - was last heard on the subject on World Youth Day in April . > <br> He told his young audience in St Peter's that "science supports a reliable, intelligent structure of matter, the design of Creation" . > <br> Schoenborn will be joined under his old master's wing at Castelgandolfo by other former pupils of the pope including a Jesuit professor of philosophy, Paul Elbrich, and political philosopher Robert Spaemann . > <br> In December a US local court ruled against the teaching of ID alongside the theory of evolution . > <br> Several US states teach the theory, claiming it is as credible as Darwinism. Supporters of ID hold that some features of the universe and living things are so complex they must have been designed by a higher intelligence . > <br> Critics say ID is merely camouflaged Creationism . > <br> They say it does not belong in science curriculum . > <br> (photo: the Gutenberg Bible)   © Copyright ANSA. All rights reserved 2006-08-25 19:23