The Pope insisted that God was responsible for the Big Bang, from which all life then evolved.
The Big Bang - the theory that the universe was born in a cosmic explosion about 13.7 billion years ago and has expanded and evolved since - "doesn't contradict the intervention of a divine Creator, but demands it," the Pope said.
The beginning of the world was not "the work of chaos" but part of a divine plan by the Creator, he said.
"Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve,"he told the meeting.
God should not be regarded as some sort of "magician", waving a magic wand, he said.
As far back as 1950,
Pope Pius XII said that there was no intrinsic conflict between Catholic doctrine and the theory of evolution, provided that Catholics believed that the human soul was created by God and not the result of random evolutionary forces. That stance was affirmed in 1996 by Pope John Paul II.
"The Pope's declaration is significant," said Giovanni Bignami, the president of Italy's National Institute for Astrophysics. "We are the descendants of the Big Bang, which created the universe. You just have to think that in our blood we have a few litres of hydrogen, which was created by the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago."
"Our blood is red because it contains iron, which was created by the explosion of a star millions and millions of years ago. Out of creation came evolution."
Read the original news story here:
Pope Francis says Big Bang theory and evolution 'compatible with divine Creator'
Read more news about this topic:
Pope Francis: Evolution is real, God did not wave a 'magic wand'
Pope Francis: ‘Evolution … is not inconsistent with the notion of creation’
Read Pope John Paul II's comments about evolution:
MESSAGE TO THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: ON EVOLUTION
VATICAN THINKING EVOLVE
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