双语：罗马教皇公开承认进化论和大爆炸理论_新浪教育_新浪网

　　导语：长期以来，天主教会与科学一直处于斗争阶段，布鲁诺的火刑和伽利略的审判无不证明这一点。然而据《今日美国》28号报道，2013年刚刚上任的罗马天主教教皇方济各公开承认大爆炸理论与上帝并不矛盾，相反，“它需要它”(it requires it)。

　　上周五，方济各教皇在出席教皇科学院(the Pontifical Academy of Sciences)全体会议时表示，“上帝并不是神或者魔术师，他是赋予一切生命的创造者，进化论在本质上并不与创世说的概念想矛盾，因为进化论是上帝所创造人的进化”。

　　事实上，与人们对天主教的一贯看法不同，天主教本身并不像许多美国的福音派新教(evangelical Protestantism)那样认为基督教教义与进化论相悖。早在1950年，教皇庇护七世就公开声明进化论和天主教教义并不矛盾，而在1996年，保罗二世也对庇护七世的观点表示赞同。

　　方济各教皇的论断引起了广泛的关注，米兰大学科学哲学系的朱利奥教授表示，方济各教皇在试图减少天主教和科学之间的“争论或者潜在的争论”。

　　VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has waded into the controversial debate over the origins of human life, saying the big bang theory did not contradict the role of a divine creator, but even required it。

　　The pope was addressing the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which gathered Monday at the Vatican to discuss "Evolving Concepts of Nature."

　　"When we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything. But that is not so," Francis said。

　　"He created human beings and let them develop according to the internal laws that he gave to each one so they would reach their fulfillment."

　　Francis said the beginning of the world was not "a work of chaos" but created from a principle of love. He said sometimes competing beliefs in creation and evolution could co-exist。

　　Pope Francis tells an audience that the Big Bang does not contradict the "creative intervention of God". He says, "on the contrary, it requires it"。

　　"God is not a divine being or a magician, but the Creator who brought everything to life," the pope said. "Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve."

　　Unlike much of evangelical Protestantism in the U.S., Catholic teaching traditionally has not been at odds with evolution. In 1950, Pope Pius XII proclaimed there was no opposition between evolution and Catholic doctrine. In 1996, St. John Paul II endorsed Pius' statement。

　　Some wondered if Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI wanted to change that when he and some acolytes seemed to endorse the theory of intelligent design, the idea that the world is too complex to have evolved according to Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection。

　　Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Vienna, a close associate of Benedict, penned a widely noticed 2005 op-ed in The New York Times that said "Evolution in the sense of common ancestry might be true, but evolution in the neo-Darwinian sense — an unguided, unplanned process … is not."

　　Giovanni Bignami, a professor and president of Italy's National Institute for Astrophysics, welcomed Francis' comments, saying he had buried the "pseudo theories" of creationists。

　　"The pope's statement is significant," Bignami told Italian news agency Adnkronos. "We are the direct descendants from the Big Bang that created the universe. Evolution came from creation."

　　Giulio Giorello, professor of the philosophy of science at Milan's University degli Studi, said he believed Francis was "trying to reduce the emotion of dispute or presumed disputes" with science。

　　Francis made his speech while unveiling a bust in honor of Benedict, his predecessor, at the Vatican。

　　"Benedict XVI was a great pope: great for the power and penetration of his intellect, great for his significant contribution to theology, great for his love of the church and of human beings, great for his virtue and piety," he said。

（编译：卢頔）