National Catholic Reporter: Schönborn steps back from attack on evolution

[BurtWorm]

Apparently he was being "philosophical," not "scientific." He agrees that whether life's development was random and undirected or not is "not a question theology can answer." "For Catholic thinking," Schönborn says, "it was clear from Pius XII's encyclical, Humani generis, that evolutionary theory can be valid to understand certain mechanisms, but it can never be seen or accepted as a holistic model to explain the existence of life."

The IDers will no doubt pretend Schönborn never said this.
Some choice bits from the article NCR article:


http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word080505.htm



To some scientists, who had been impressed with Pope John Paul II's 1996 statement that evolution is "more than a hypothesis," the Schönborn piece seemed a step back.

For example, Sir Martin Rees, an eminent British astronomer and a member of the Pontifical Academy of Science, told me July 22: "I was dismayed by the content and tone of the article by Cardinal Schönborn. I very much hope that the Pontifical Academy can dissociate itself from such sentiments."

Other observers, however, were gratified by Schönborn's piece, given that evolution has often been used to justify atheism, immanentism and Deism -- all inimical to orthodox Christianity.

Michael Behe, a biochemist at Lehigh University, a Catholic and author of Darwin's Black Box, one of the leading challenges to evolution on scientific grounds, told me: "It seems to me that the cardinal said pretty much everything that needed to be said."

[YOY]

1. Good Catholics don't buy the fundie BS

as the fundies have about 0 respect for us.