meetings generally confirmed the lack of conflict between evolutionary theory and Catholic theology, and the rejection of Intelligent Design by Catholic scholars. On the evening of his death on December 31, 2022, the Holy See published the spiritual testament of Benedict XVI, which was witten on August 29, 2006. In regards to natural sciences, he wrote: Pope Francis On October 27, 2014, Pope Francis issued a statement at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences that "Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation," warning against thinking of God's act of creation as "God [being] a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything." The Pope also expressed in the same statement the view that scientific explanations such as the Big Bang and evolution in fact require God's creation: "God is not... a magician, but the Creator who brought everything to life,” Francis said. “Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve.” Catholic teaching and evolution The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994, revised 1997) on faith, evolution and science states: Despite these general sections on scientific discussion of the origins of the world and of man, the Catechism does not explicitly discuss the theory of evolution in its treatment of human origins. Paragraph 283 has been noted as making a positive comment regarding the theory of evolution, with the clarification that "many scientific studies" that have enriched knowledge of "the development of life-forms and the appearance of man" refers to mainstream science and not to "creation science". Concerning the doctrine on creation, Ludwig Ott in his Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma identifies the following points as essential beliefs of the Catholic faith ("De Fide"): All that exists outside God was, in its whole substance, produced out of nothing by God. God was moved by His Goodness to create the world. The world was created for the Glorification of God. The Three Divine Persons are one single, common Principle of the Creation. God created the world free from exterior compulsion and inner necessity. God has created a good world. The world had a beginning in time. God alone created the world. God keeps all created things in existence. God, through His Providence, protects and guides all that He has created. Some Catholic theologians, among them Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Piet Schoonenberg, and Karl Rahner, have discussed the