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Since the publication of Charles Darwin's ''On the Origin of Species'' in 1859, the attitude of the Catholic Church on the theory of evolution has slowly been refined. Early contributions to the development of evolutionary theory were made by Catholic scientists such as Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and the Augustinian monk Gregor Mendel. For nearly a century, the papacy offered no authoritative pronouncement on Darwin's theories. In the 1950 encyclical ''Humani generis'', Pope Pius XII confirmed that there is no intrinsic conflict between Christianity and the theory of evolution, provided that Christians believe that the individual soul is a direct creation by God and not the product of purely material forces. , the Church supports theistic evolution(ism), also known as ''evolutionary creation'', although Catholics are free not to believe in any part of evolutionary theory. The Catholic Church holds no official position on the theory of creation or evolution, leaving the specifics of either theistic evolution or literal creationism to the individual within certain parameters established by the Church. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, any believer may accept either literal or special creation within the period of an actual six day, twenty-four hour period, or they may accept the belief that the earth evolved over time under the guidance of God. Catholicism holds that God initiated and continued the process of his evolutionary creation, that Adam and Eve were real people (the Church rejects polygenism) and affirms that all humans, whether specially created or evolved, have and have always had specially created souls for each individual.〔 Catholic schools in the United States and other countries teach evolution as part of their science curriculum. They teach the fact that evolution occurs and the modern evolutionary synthesis, which is the scientific theory that explains how evolution proceeds. This is the same evolution curriculum that secular schools teach. Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo of Richmond, chair of the Committee on Science and Human Values, wrote in a letter sent to all U.S. bishops in December 2004: "... Catholic schools should continue teaching evolution as a scientific theory backed by convincing evidence. At the same time, Catholic parents whose children are in public schools should ensure that their children are also receiving appropriate catechesis at home and in the parish on God as Creator. Students should be able to leave their biology classes, and their courses in religious instruction, with an integrated understanding of the means God chose to make us who we are."〔(Catholic schools steer clear of anti-evolution bias ), Jeff Severns Guntzel, ''National Catholic Reporter'', March 25, 2005〕 ==Early contributions to evolutionary theory== Among Catholic contributors to the development of evolutionary theory were, the Jesuit educated French scientist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) and the Augustinian monk Gregor Mendel (1822-1884). Lamarck developed Lamarckism, the first coherent theory of evolution, proposing in ''Philosophie Zoologique'' (1809) and other works his theory of the transmutation of species and drawing a genealogical tree to show the genetic connection of organisms.〔(Biography of Lamarck ) at University of California Museum of Paleontology〕 Mendel joined the Brno Augustinian Monastery in 1843, but also trained as a scientist at the Olmutz Philosophical Institute and the University of Vienna. The Brno Monastery was a centre of scholarship, with an extensive library and tradition of scientific research.〔Bill Bryson; ''A Short History of Nearly Everything''; Black Swan; 2004; p.474〕 At the monastery, Mendel discovered the basis of genetics following long study of the inherited characteristics of pea plants, although his paper ''Experiments on Plant Hybridization'', published in 1866, was largely overlooked until the start of the next century.〔(Biography of Mendel at the Mendel Museum ); 〕 He developed mathematical formulae to explain the occurrence, and confirmed the results in other plants. Where Darwin's theories suggested a mechanism for improvement of species over generations, Mendel's observations provided explanation for how a new species itself could emerge. Though Darwin and Mendel never collaborated, they were aware of each other's work (Darwin read a paper by Wilhelm Olbers Focke which extensively referenced Mendel). Bill Bryson wrote that "without realizing it, Darwin and Mendel laid the groundwork for all of life sciences in the twentieth century. Darwin saw that all living things are connected, that ultimately they trace their ancestry to a single, common source; Mendel's work provided the mechanism to explain how that could happen".〔Bill Bryson; ''A Short History of Nearly Everything''; Black Swan; 2004; p.474-476〕 Biologist J. B. S. Haldane and others brought together the principles of Mendelian inheritance with Darwinian principles of evolution to form the field of genetics known as Modern evolutionary synthesis.〔Bill Bryson; ''A Short History of Nearly Everything''; Black Swan; 2004; p.300〕 Changing awareness of the age of the earth and fossil records helped in the development of evolutionary theory. The work of the Danish Bishop Nicolas Steno (1638-1686) helped establish the science of geology, leading to modern scientific measurements of the age of the earth.〔(Nicolas Steno )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Catholic Church and evolution」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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