On Monday, October 27, 2014, addressing the Pontifical Academy of Sciences , Pope Francis is reported to have said, '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. The evolution of nature does not contrast with the notion of creation, as evolution presupposes the creation of beings that evolve.'

> 
> “When we read in Genesis the account of Creation, we risk imagining
>  God as a magician, with a wand able to make everything. But it is not
>  so,” the Bishop of Rome affirmed.
> 
> 
> “He created beings and allowed them to develop according to the
>  internal laws that he gave to each one, so that they were able to
>  develop and to arrive and their fullness of being. He gave autonomy to
>  the beings of the universe at the same time at which he assured them
>  of his continuous presence, giving being to every reality. And so
>  creation continued for centuries and centuries, millennia and
>  millennia, until it became which we know today, precisely because God
>  is not a demiurge or a magician, but the creator who gives being to
>  all things.”
> 
> 
> Pope Francis said that “the beginning of the world is not the work of
>  chaos that owes its origin to another, but derives directly from a
>  Supreme Principle who creates out of love.”
> 
> 
> “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. The evolution of nature does not contrast with the notion of
>  creation, as evolution presupposes the creation of beings that
>  evolve.” - *Source:* [Francis inaugurates bust of Benedict, emphasizes
>  unity of faith, science | CNA](http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/francis-inaugurates-bust-of-benedict-emphasizes-stewardship-43494/).
> 
> 
> 

Are the theories of Evolution and the Big Bang now binding to Catholics and to be held as true?

The answer will include a history of papal and Church pronouncements on these theories. Please note the acceptable answer is not the one that tries to explain what the Pope meant. An acceptable answer would be the one that presents the answer as how one understands what the Pope said in light of the Church's teaching.

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cf. [Video | Reuters](http://bcove.me/z9rs5nd7).

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cf. [Address of his Holiness Pope Francis on the Occasion of the Inauguration of the bust in honour of Pope Benedict XVI | Plenary Session of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences | Casina of Pius IV | *Monday, 27 October 2014*](http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2014/october/documents/papa-francesco_20141027_plenaria-accademia-scienze.html).