About Man
1. The Message of Pope John Paul II to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, presented on 22 October 1996 and published in L'Osservatore Romano dated the following day, caused a worldwide sensation. What was most noted by the secular media is the announcement that "new items of knowledge lead to recognizing in the theory of evolution more than an hypothesis" (de nouvelles connaissances conduisent à reconnaître dans la théorie de l'évolution plus qu'une hypothèse). While this statement was greeted with jubilation on the part of evolutionists everywhere, it caused no little dismay and confusion among traditional Catholic believers, who were at a loss to locate it within the context of their belief. It is in the hope of providing such a context that I present this article.
2. The historical background of the Message, as presented in the same 23 October issue of L'Osservatore Romano, can be summarized as follows. The Pontifical Academy of Sciences takes its origin from the Accademia dei Lincei, which was founded in 1603 by Federico Cesi and which counted Galileo Galilei among its first members. It was later made a pontifical academy, In 1870 some of the members split off to form the Italian Accademia dei Lincei, while the rest remained in what was then called the Pontifical Academy of the New Lincei. Pope Pius XI reorganized and relaunched this academy in 1936 as the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and the occasion of the Message of Pope John Paul II which we are studying was the plenary assembly of the members celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of the refounding. The aim of the refounded Academy, as determined by Pope Pius XI, is to "promote the progress of the mathematical, physical, and natural sciences and the study of the epistemological problems related to them," and its purpose is thus to provide to the Holy See scientifically correct information regarding knowledge in these fields. Of the eighty members of the Academy at the time...
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