Pope Francis Insists On A Church-science Dialogue
Pope Francis insists upon the importance of the Church dialoguing with scientists. “Faith is not fearful of reason; on the contrary, it seeks and trusts reason, since 'the light of reason and the light of faith both come from God' and cannot contradict each other” (Evangelii Gaudium 242). “The Church has no wish to hold back the marvelous progress of science. On the contrary, she rejoices and even delights in acknowledging the enormous potential that God has given to the human mind. Whenever the sciences…arrive at conclusions which reason cannot refute, faith does not contradict it” (E.G. 243).
An excellent example of this is the scientific theory of evolution. Some religions compute that the world was created about 6,000 years ago according to biblical genealogies. After rigorous scientific research, science claims that our world was created about 5 billion years ago. The Catholic Church does not dispute these scientific findings of the earth’s creation because she knows that the bible is a book of faith, not a science manual.
The Catholic Church can easily live with the theory of evolution because the Book of Genesis records two different creation accounts (see Genesis 1 and 2). Did God make a mistake in how God created the world because surely both cannot be correct?! Each creation account has major differences in “how” God created the world.
Genesis 1 tells us that God created a different element of the world each day; while Genesis 2 has God creating everything in the world at the same time. Which one is correct? The Catholic Church claims that both are accurate because the Bible is about faith, not science. Each creation account has a different faith message – not a scientific answer to the creation of the world. The Bible proclaims that God is the Creator of all that exists and is not interested in the how, which is the domain of scientists.
However, some scientists have overstepped their competency by concluding that there is no Supreme Being who created our world – not to mention the untold worlds beyond our solar system. Such a conclusion is not within the domain of the scientists because God cannot be placed under a microscope and examined.
“How” God chose to create our world does not matter to people of faith. What is crucial is our belief THAT God is the sole creator of all that exists in whatever way God chose to create it. At this point, faith and reason diverge; and faith must win out. The denial of a Supreme Being who created the world is a false conclusion that some scientists affirm as truth, which the church condemns because “They have exceeded the limits of their scientific competence.…” (E.G. 243).
Another excellent example is that Catholics use hospitals and medications because we believe that God works through the minds of medical researchers! Medical researchers seek to bring healing to people. Thanks be to God that we have them!
Some Christian denominations rely solely on faith and forbid their members from receiving any form of medical treatment – even something as ordinary and simple as a blood transfusion. God wants us to use the good work of medical researchers who are also God's instruments in the world. We should pray for medical researchers, that God enlighten them to find cures for the horrible illnesses menacing us today – Alzheimer’s, MS, MD, Lou Gehrig’s disease, fibromyalgia, cancer, Ebola, to name only a few.
