Vatican and Science

General Discussion
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Vatican pitches into the climate change debate with this Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum:

Despite all attempts to deny, conceal, gloss over or relativize the issue, the signs of climate change are here and increasingly evident. No one can ignore the fact that in recent years we have witnessed extreme weather phenomena, frequent periods of unusual heat, drought and other cries of protest on the part of the earth that are only a few palpable expressions of a silent disease that affects everyone. Admittedly, not every concrete catastrophe ought to be attributed to global climate change. Nonetheless, it is verifiable that specific climate changes provoked by humanity are notably heightening the probability of extreme phenomena that are increasingly frequent and intense. For this reason, we know that every time the global temperature increases by 0.5° C, the intensity and frequency of great rains and floods increase in some areas and severe droughts in others, extreme heat waves in some places and heavy snowfall in others.[4] If up to now we could have heat waves several times a year, what will happen if the global temperature increases by 1.5° C, which we are approaching? Those heat waves will be much more frequent and with greater intensity. If it should rise above 2 degrees, the icecaps of Greenland and a large part of Antarctica[5] will melt completely, with immensely grave consequences for everyone.

If we consider that emissions per individual in the United States are about two times greater than those of individuals living in China, and about seven times greater than the average of the poorest countries,[44] we can state that a broad change in the irresponsible lifestyle connected with the Western model would have a significant long-term impact.

This isn’t the first time the Vatican pitched in: Pope Francis: 'Evolution ... is not inconsistent with the notion of creation'. However, these views date back already to John Paul II, whose 1996 message to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences included:

Taking into account the scientific research of the era, and also the proper requirements of theology, the encyclical Humani Generis treated the doctrine of “evolutionism” as a serious hypothesis, worthy of investigation and serious study, alongside the opposite hypothesis. Pius XII added two methodological conditions for this study: one could not adopt this opinion as if it were a certain and demonstrable doctrine, and one could not totally set aside the teaching Revelation on the relevant questions. He also set out the conditions on which this opinion would be compatible with the Christian faith—a point to which I shall return.

Today, more than a half-century after the appearance of that encyclical, some new findings lead us toward the recognition of evolution as more than an hypothesis

Thus, when I was invited to an Opus Dei gathering not too long ago, I had so smile when someone spoke of “those Bible-thumping troglodytes.”

There’s much said about exorcism in popular media, but it’s worth going to the source, to Leo XIII’s Exorcism Prayer:

defend us in “our battle against principalities and powers,
against the rulers of this world of darkness,
against the spirits of wickedness in the high places”

and we beseech Thee to deliver us by Thy power
from all the tyranny of the infernal spirits,
from their snares,
their lies and their furious wickedness.

It’s not about demonic children, it’s about corruption and selfishness in positions of power.

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The Gang of Five Cardinals have released (2023-10-02) the full text of their dubia (questions) to Pope Francis and his replies on 2023-07-10, which they evaluate as follows:

Having studied his letter which did not follow the practice of responsa ad dubia [responses to questions], we reformulated the dubia to elicit a clear response based on the perennial doctrine and discipline of the Church. By our letter of August 21, 2023, we submitted the reformulated dubia, a copy of which is attached, to the Roman Pontiff. Up to the present, we have not received a response to the reformulated dubia.

Their document, “Notification to Christ’s Faithful (can. 212 § 3) Regarding Dubia Submitted to Pope Francis”, contains the original dubia, the responses by Pope Francis on 2023-07-10, and the reformulated dubia from 2023-08-21, in which they state (emphasis in the original):

We therefore re-propose our questions to You, so that they can be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.”

The individual documents are linked, as PDF files, in the letter linked above. They are included in English, Italian, German, Spanish, French, Polish, and Portuguese, but, oddly, not Latin.

One might say these Cardinals are dubious of the current Pontiff’s commitment to millennia-old Church doctrine.

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Catholic church has a long history of various debates about important topics:

In fact, this is the topic of Buñuel’s film, The Milky Way:

Here’s the money quote:

When Italy attempted to ban the film, it was the Catholic Church that came to its defense, and that should say something.

Catholicism is quite proud of working out various changes in the course.

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Sounds like the Pope might want to replace Jesus on the Cross with a burning globe in all his churches.

According to Psychology Today “Seeing pets or objects as human-like could help fulfill a social need…”

The Pope must employee good propogandist. They hit the social need and tied it to the pandemic to really put the fear of God Gaia into followers.

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Well, Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin has been the one to originate many of these ideas:

After the war, he completed his studies and began making research trips to China. He was part of a team that discovered Peking Man, an example of the extinct species Homo erectus.

But his writings began to encounter opposition. In 1927, the Jesuit curia forbade the publication of his work “The Divine Milieu,” which was not released until after his death.

Asked to sum up his personal credo in 1934, he wrote: “I believe the universe is an evolution; I believe evolution proceeds towards spirit; I believe spirit, in the human, completes itself in the personal; I believe the supreme personal is the Cosmic Christ.”

Teilhard contended that the Earth had undergone three phases of development: the geosphere (inanimate matter), the biosphere (biological life), and the noosphere (thought/reason). He believed that the noosphere would culminate in what he called the Omega Point, which he identified with Christ, who describes himself as “the Alpha and the Omega” in the New Testament’s Book of Revelation.

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