The Roman Catholic Church and Evolution

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From my research I still conclude that the Roman Church does not support the theories of evolution but accepts the Biblical account of creation. (When I speak of the Church not accepting evolution, I speak of macroevolution).

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The Biblical account in Genesis and science disagree on the origin of whales. The Popes address quite clearly indicates an acceptance of evoution with only one exception - the origin of the human spirit and mind. This in itself proves your claim to be false. There really is no complication.

But you DO question the Pope's position. In fact you refuse to accept that he meant what he plainly said. The only issue the Pope has with evolution is the origin of the human soul. That's it. Nothing else.

I have read the entire address as it appears on the websites linked in this discussion. The Pope makes a general endorsement of evolutionary theory as good science reserving one single issue - the origin of the human soulLet us note the following quotes:"It is necessary to determine the proper sense of Scripture, while avoiding any unwarranted interpretations that make it say what it does not intend to say. In order to delineate the field of their own study, the exegete and the theologian must keep informed about the results achieved by the natural sciences"The Pope states that the natural sciences can inform the interpretation of scripture and (especially given the preceding reference to Galileo) indicates that interpretations that contradict well-established scientific results may well be "unwarranted interpretations that make it say what it does not intend to say"."It is indeed remarkable that this theory has been progressively accepted by researchers, following a series of discoveries in various fields of knowledge. The convergence, neither sought nor fabricated, of the results of work that was conducted independently is in itself a significant argument in favor of this theory. "The Pope grants that there is significant evidence for evolution."The Church's magisterium is directly concerned with the question of evolution, for it involves the conception of man..."The origins of animal and plant species are not at issue."Pius XII stressed this essential point: If the human body take its origin from pre-existent living matter, the spiritual soul is immediately created by God"The evolution of the physical human body is not at issue."Consequently, theories of evolution which, in accordance with the philosophies inspiring them, consider the spirit as emerging from the forces of living matter or as a mere epiphenomenon of this matter, are incompatible with the truth about man."The origin of the human spirit or soul IS at issue.That is the ONLY issue that the Pope considers significant.So there you have it. The Pope clearly accepts evolution as legitimate science with significant evidential support - and he states that there is only one aspect of evolution that should be rejected on scriptural grounds.So please don't try to pretend that I haven't read the document. I have read it and you are misrepresenting it.