CHAPTER VIII 



CATHOLICS AND EVOLUTION 



WE declare that every wise thought and 

 every useful discovery, wherever it 

 may come from, should be gladly and 

 gratefully welcomed." 1 These words of Pope 

 Leo XIII will sufficiently define the attitude of 

 Catholics towards evolution. The Church is 

 eager as any scientist can ever possibly be for 

 the truth, but, as was already stated, she desires 

 the whole truth and nothing but the truth. 



There is no fact that science can demonstrate, 

 "wherever it may come from," in the words of 

 the Pontiff, or whatever it may be, that will not 

 be "gladly and gratefully welcomed" by her and 

 accounted as gain. Let it be clearly understood 

 that there is no limit and no exception to this 

 statement. No true child of hers is the Catholic 

 scientist who harbors in his heart even the faint- 

 est suspicion that any discovery of science could 

 ever contradict the Word of God. Least of all, 

 however, is the Church ever to be startled by the 

 word, "Evolution." Hear what the blind Jesuit 



'Encyclical "Aeterni Patris," Aug. 4, 1879. 

 95 



