I'm not well versed in Catholic theology, so I don't know how big a deal this is. And the press has a long history of hopelessly mangling what popes say, so I'm not even sure he really even believes this. But I do find it interesting:
The theories of evolution and the Big Bang are real and God is not “a magician with a magic wand”, Pope Francis has declared.
[. . .]
Francis explained that both scientific theories were not incompatible with the existence of a creator – arguing instead that they “require it”.
“When we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything. But that is not so,” Francis said.
He added: “He created human beings and let them develop according to the internal laws that he gave to each one so they would reach their fulfilment.
I've never really gotten that "either-or" argument over evolution and creation. You could easily believe in both by arguing that a creator set evolution in motion. And I can see believing in neither -- not thinking there is a supreme being does not require one to automatically accept evolution. The God/not God debate is about the origin of life. The evolution debate is about its development. Apples and oranges.
