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New York (pte040/13.07.2005/15:02) - In the light of recent statements made by Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn about modern evolution theories and Catholicism, Pope Benedict XVI has been asked by three scientists to reaffirm statements made by Pope John Paul and other Catholic leaders that evolution and Catholicism were 'not incompatible'.
Cardinal Schönborn, archbishop of Vienna and theologian, last Thursday wrote an article for the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/09/science/09cardinal.html?incamp=article_popular, saying, "Evolution in the sense of common ancestry might be true, but evolution in the neo-Darwinian sense - an unguided, unplanned process of random variation and natural selection - is not."
The three scientists are Lawrence M. Krauss, a non-Catholic physicist at Case Western Reserve University, Dr. Francisco J. Ayala of the University of California, Irvine, a former Dominican priest, and Kenneth R. Miller of Brown University, a Roman Catholic who has written on the reconciliation of science and faith.
In a letter written to the pope on his and his colleagues' behalf, Dr Krauss asked him to reaffirm what Pope John Paul had said on the topic, which was, "that scientific rationality and the church's commitment to divine purpose and meaning in the universe were not incompatible."
The scientists' letter says that it is crucial, "that in these difficult and contentious times the Catholic Church not build a new divide, long ago eradicated, between the scientific method and religious belief."
The Vatican has given no comment on Schönborn's article.
Schönborn, whose article was prompted partially by an essay written by Krauss in Science Times about the compatibility of religion and evolution, is said to be receiving the letter in the next few days.
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