What is an explanation of the Catholic Church view on the creation of the universe?

Answer 1

Catholics believe that the Act by which God gave a beginning to all that exists outside of Himself is called Creation (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Edition, 1994, section 290). Catholics are not compelled to take the story of creation, given in Genesis, as a literal recounting of the Act of Creation itself but as allegorical recounting. We are free to believe that evolution was the means God chose to use. We must, however, acknowledge God was the first cause. Here is a great article with an extensive Catholic explanation of Adam, Eve, and Evolution. It is well worth the read.

Answer 2

The position of the Catholic Church is that the Theory of Evolution can be supported as long as we accept that Adam and Eve were the first humans to have a soul.

Pope Pius XII stated in his encyclical Humani Generis (1950) that there was no opposition between evolution and the doctrine of the faith and that he considered the doctrine of "evolutionism" a serious hypothesis, worthy of investigation and in-depth study equal to that of the opposing hypothesis; Pope John Paul II, in an address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (1996), said that new knowledge has led to the recognition of the theory of evolution as more than a hypothesis; Pope Benedict has backed "theistic evolution" which considers that God created life through evolution with no clash between religion and science.

Answer 3

Creation of the world: God created the universe and the world. God created man and woman. Man and woman created Original sin as defined in The Bible. Original sin defines man's inherent nature as being good but slightly flawed copies (finite images) of God.

Evolution: This is just a theory, however, it is the only theory we have that explains continuity: how Man may have come into being (see reference below). The creation story of the Bible is Truth but also a literary device meaning it explains the origins of the Universe from a moral stand point: God created the universe in pieces, they are described as 'days' because it describes God as being powerful enough to do just that.

Realistically, God could take as much or as little time as He wants to create anything, including time itself because God is outside of time and space. If He wanted to do it in seven days (which is what Catholics believe) He could just as easily do it in that amount of time as in any other amount of time.

Reference: Intelligent Design by Stanley L. Jaki, 2005 Real View Books, ISBN 0-9774826-0-X

Roman Catholic AnswerThe Catholic view of creation is that the world and everything in it was made by God, is kept in existence by God; and was made for the glory of God. It was made not to increase His glory but rather to show it forth and communicate it. from The Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, English translation 1994, question 293.

Answer 4

The Catholic Church does not have a conflict between evolution and creation. The teaching is not about science but about God's creation of life. Whether or not the earth and humans evolved is not important to God's creation of man and woman.

The Catholic church, has never taught that creationism was correct, this is the invention of Church of England Protestants if memory serves me correctly.

My Father was taught evolution in the 60's in science class and The bible in religion class. Not the other way around.

Today I have learned Darwinism as a theory, as it is (seriously explain how Pandas are fit!) And Evolution as my father had, as a scientific fact.

Basically as we learn more from science, we agree with it, because God gave us science. To deny science is to deny God.

Answer 5

The Catholic Church does not dictate how Catholics are to believe. They are free to believe a literal translation of Genesis or they can accept the 'Big Bang' theory, which, of course, is just that - a theory. However, whatever the person believes he must accept that the process, what ever it was, as initiated by God as a means toward creation. The same can be said for evolution. The Church allows you to choose what you believe was God's method of creating man.

Answer 6

The Catholic Church has no official explanation or doctrine about the creation of the Universe. The only stipulation being that Catholics must believe that God was the Creator who set the process in motion.

Answer 7

The Catholic Church officially teaches the biblical creation of the world, while recognising that Genesis actually contains two creation stories. The Vatican's online New American Biblecontains a footnote to Genesis 2:4, saying that this section is much older than the narrative of Genesis 1:1- 2:4a - in other words, a separate and independent explanation of creation.
The New American Bible correctly translates Genesis 1:1-2: "In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters." Thus the act of creation was not ex nihilo - there was already a formless wasteland that included the waters. In verse 9, God gathered the waters together, to expose the pre-existing land underneath.

It can be judged from the Church's acceptance that the Bible contains two quite separate accounts of creation, that it does not require Catholics to literally believe either one of the accounts. This is compatible with the Church's acceptance of scientific explanations of the beginnings of the universe and its position on evolution:
Pope Pius XII stated in his encyclical Humani Generis(1950) that there was no opposition between evolution and the doctrine of the faith and that he considered the doctrine of "evolutionism" a serious hypothesis, worthy of investigation and in-depth study equal to that of the opposing hypothesis; Pope John Paul II, in an address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (1996), said that new knowledge has led to the recognition of the theory of evolution as more than a hypothesis;

Pope Benedict has refused to endorse "intelligent design" theories, instead backing "theistic evolution" which considers that God created life through evolution with no clash between religion and science.

Answer 8

God is the creator of everything.