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Wednesday, October 29th, 2014

Pope Francis: God is “Not a Magician With a Magic Wand”

Author:     Barbie Latza Nadeau
Source:     The Daily Beast
Publication Date:     10.28.14
 Link: Pope Francis: God is “Not a Magician With a Magic Wand”
Stephan:   For an institution as conservative and slow to change as the Roman Catholic Church it seems to me the nuances of Pope Francis' comments are less important -- critics notwithstanding -- than that he chose to speak on these issues at all at this moment. The actual statements are not such a big change from the church's position over the last decade. But I think that misses the point. This public statement has to be seen in the context of his efforts to move the recent synod of bishops on homosexuality. Clearly this is a man who is committed to bring change to a church that is change adverse. For that reason I think this is a substantial deal.
Credit : en.wikipedia.org

Credit : en.wikipedia.org

On Monday, when Pope Francis addressed prelates and scientists attending a plenary session of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, he yet again challenged all we’ve come to expect a pope to say.

Instead of asking those at the meeting to consider God as the supreme creator, he asked them to consider God as a sort of supreme helper.  While he stopped short of endorsing the Big Bang theory as the definitive origin of the universe, he did say that science and scripture have a lot in common and believing one does not mean forsaking the other.

“When we read in Genesis the account of Creation, we risk imagining God as a magician, with a magic wand able to make everything,” Francis said.  “But it is not so.”

How’s that again? “The Big Bang, which nowadays is posited as the origin of the world, does not contradict the divine act of creating, but rather requires it,” Francis said. “The evolution of nature does not contrast with the notion of Creation, as evolution presupposes the creation of beings that evolve.”

The Pontifical Academy […]

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