Evolution and the Big Bang theory do not contradict creation and God's existence, Pope Francis told his science academy on Monday, Catholic News Service reported.
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which includes scientists and philosophers, has been meeting in a four-day session entitled Evolving Concepts of Nature.
One of its goals is to formulate recommendations to the church and political world as a basis for the future progress of our cultural evolution, the website states.
"When we read the account of creation in Genesis, we risk thinking that God was a magician, complete with a magic wand, able to do everything," Pope Francis said, according to Catholic News Service. "But it is not like that."
"He created living beings and he let them develop according to the internal laws that he gave each one, so that they would develop and reach their full potential," he said. The Big Bang requires a divine creator, and evolution isn't inconsistent with creation because it "presupposes the creation of beings that evolve," he continued.
The statement echoes other papal views regarding the intertwining of faith and science, notably that of Pope Pius XII, who reigned from 1939 to the late '50s, The Independent reported.
"Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve."
The Catholic Church has long had a reputation for being anti-science - most famously when Galileo faced the inquisition and was forced to retract his "heretic" theory that the Earth revolved around the Sun.
