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Pope Leo XIV expressed his gratitude for the King and Queen’s presence at his Mass at the beginning of his pontificate, and the Prime Minister renewed his invitation to visit Spain.

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Washington D.C., Jun 11, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

About 150 scientists gathered at the eighth annual Society of Catholic Scientists conference this past weekend for talks that touched on the Thomistic notion of free will, the intersection of mathematics and theology, near-death experiences, and the origin of the human species.

Three scholars — Kenneth Kemp, a professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota; Daniel Kuebler, a professor of biology at Franciscan University; and Chris Baglow, a professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame — gave talks on the compatibility of evolution and the teachings of the Catholic Church.

The conference ran from June 6–8 at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Although the teaching of evolution in high schools has led to objections from some Christian groups over the past century, the Catholic Church does not condemn the belief that humans evolved from an ape-like ancestor.

In 1950 — nearly a century after Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species” — Pope Pius XII addressed the subject in the encyclical Humani Generis. The pontiff did not rule out bodily evolution but made clear that the human soul is directly created by God and all humans are descendants of the first two people: Adam and Eve.

The Holy Father stated that the Church does not oppose inquiries into “the origin of the human body as coming from preexistent and living matter” but noted the faith “obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God.”

When addressing the teaching that every person is descendent from Adam and Eve, Pius XII rejected any opinion that “maintains that either after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all, or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents.”

‘Biological’ and ‘theological’ humans

Most evolutionary biologists assert that biological humans did not evolve from only two humans but rather as a group of humans. Although on its face this may seem to conflict with the Catholic understanding of Genesis, the conference speakers argued that no contention exists and suggested there is a distinction between a “biological” human and a “philosophical” and “theological” human.

Kemp, the first to speak on the subject, said a “biological” human would be any human that possessed human DNA, while a “philosophical” human is a human that also possessed conceptual thought and free will, and a “theological” human is one that has the ability to form a relationship with God.

According to Kemp, someone who was “fully human” in the early development of man (what Pius XII would refer to as “true men”), was one who possessed a “philosophical-theological humanity” from which he believes all of modern-day humanity descends. Such a person was an ensouled creature with rationality who had the capability to develop logic, language, and culture.

“Fully human beings were capable of interbreeding with the merely biological human beings despite the fact that they are distinct both behaviorally (being rational) and structurally (having the created souls that make that rationality possible),” Kemp said.

“If God created rational souls into two members of a merely biologically human population, and then into all or most of their descendants, including the descendants of mixed parentage, but into no one else, and some fully human beings interbred with the merely biologically human beings, then even a low level of interbreeding could be expected to produce a species all of which would be descendant from the single original fully human couple,” Kemp argued.

This position, according to Kemp, is both “scientifically possible and theologically orthodox.”

The beginnings of humanity

Kuebler, a biologist who spoke after Kemp, expressed a similar distinction. A biological human would be any human who fit into the species of “Homo sapiens” and a theological human is a person made in the “imago Dei,” or the image of God. He similarly said that it is possible that some of the early humans could have possessed merely biological humanity before all of the species possessed theological humanity.

The exact moments when biological humanity came into existence, when the first two theological humans Adam and Eve were ensouled, and when all of biological humanity possessed theological humanity, cannot be easily determined, according to Kuebler.

However, he noted there are signs that can point to rational thought. He points to the use of composite tools and art about 200,000 years ago and to the use of ochre (a type of clay) for decoration, which began around 500,000 to 300,000 years ago and became widespread about 150,000 years ago.

Yet, Kuebler said the signs become more clear around 50,000 to 100,000 years ago with more ritualistic art and the creation of jewelry, which he said “are things that are made by people with rational and conceptual thought.” 

“The best signs of it are about 100,000 years ago,” he added.

Baglow addressed the question of where Neanderthals fall in these classifications, saying he is “not sure whether Neanderthals were theological humans” but remains open to the possibility. Neanderthals went extinct about 40,000 years ago but also interbred with early modern humans. Most people outside of Africa have some Neanderthal DNA.

He referenced the early cave art of Neanderthals as being similar to early modern humans but said “images [are] not necessarily symbols,” and rationality in art is “when an image begins to stand for something else.”

Although Baglow said it is possible that Neanderthals were theological humans, he said it may be the case that they simply had “a very special form of pre-rationality,” which was “preparatory toward personhood” for when they interbred with early modern humans.

Even though Catholic doctrine shows that evolution does not conflict with the faith, the Church does not require that Catholics believe in it.

According to a 2024 Gallup survey, about 62% of Catholics say they believe humans developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life and about 32% said they believe God created humans in their current form within the last 10,000 years, illustrating that Catholics are slightly more likely than the average American to believe in human evolution.

ACI Prensa Staff, Jun 11, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

While the government of Chile moves forward with pledges made by President Gabriel Boric to expedite pro-abortion and euthanasia legislation, the Church in that South American country remains steadfast in its defense of life from conception to natural death.

The archbishop of Santiago and cardinal primate of Chile, Fernando Chomali, authored a column titled “Dying in Peace” in which he reflected on the latter issue. “Euthanasia is a form of social eugenics in the face of the inability to empathize, accompany, love, and respond to others,” Chomali stated.

On June 5, the administration of Boric introduced new amendments to the euthanasia bill, which was first introduced almost 14 years ago in the country’s Chamber of Deputies (lower house).

The initiative, titled “Bill on the Right to Voluntarily Opt to Receive Medical Assistance to Hasten Death in the Case of a Terminal and Incurable Illness,” is currently under consideration by the Senate health committee, according to the BioBio website.

Among the amendments proposed by the government are the elimination of the right of patients to receive spiritual guidance in accordance with their faith, the elimination of conscientious objection by institutions, and the expansion of the places where the procedure can be carried out, including the home.

The bill also incorporates new formal requirements, such as the patient’s written and reiterated wishes and a case evaluation committee, but proposes “medical assistance in dying” as a regular service within the health care system.

If the bill is passed, Chile will join the roster of countries that allow euthanasia, which includes Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, and Australia. It would become the third country in Latin America to have legislation on the subject, along with Colombia and Ecuador.

In the context of the current situation in Chile, characterized by violence, corruption, insecurity, and long waiting lists for medical treatment, Chomali warned: “A bill that allows for the direct elimination of a human being in the final stage of life has resurfaced and is being processed immediately: the euthanasia bill.”

Behind the idea of ​​“death with dignity,” Chomali stated, “is the idea of ​​disposing of the lives of others in their terminal stages.” In his critique of the bill, Chomaili took aim at the haste with which the legislation is now moving.

“Could someone explain the urgency? Will there be time to hear from experts on the subject and for legislators to study the matter and learn about the disastrous experiences of some countries that have introduced this practice?” the cardinal asked.

The bill, the cardinal noted, “is ambiguous because it extends to people in complex health situations, who, according to the bill’s proponents, since their lives are not worth living, the state cannot prevent them from ending them.”

The legislative initiative “appeals to autonomy and individual freedom as an absolute right that must be respected, even knowing that, in these circumstances, it is what is most lacking,” Chomali observed.

The proposal, the cardinal noted, “is the practical response to the torpidity of the state and society in caring for the sick, in most cases elderly adults, many of whom end their days old, alone, sick, and poor. Many of them are in public hospitals, and in places we cannot imagine, bedridden and abandoned in dire conditions.”

“Euthanasia is referred to as an act of compassion,” he lamented, and warned: “Let us not be mistaken; it is an act of compassion to benefit Western society, which measures everything in terms of productivity, joy, success, and profit, and which cannot tolerate anything related to pain and suffering, much less take responsibility for it.”

“This bill is the sunset of the sense of responsibility toward the weak that belongs to all of society and the triumph of the logic of force over the logic of reason,” he reflected.

A bill detrimental to the poor 

According to Chomali, “with euthanasia, the plight of a seriously ill person is resolved with violence — covered in the cloak of kindness, compassion, autonomy, etc.”

Furthermore, he pointed out that it is a measure that works against the lower classes because, especially for the poor, there is the possibility that “third parties may decide for them to end their days.”

“The truth is that those who are accompanied feel loved and well cared for; they don’t ask to end their days; on the contrary, they cling to life and their loved ones as a great treasure until the end,” the cardinal emphasized.

As an example, he mentioned the Las Rosas Foundation — which provides shelter for the poorest and most vulnerable elderly — “where it has never even occurred to a resident, even a bedridden one, to ask for their life to be ended.”

As if that weren’t enough, the cardinal warned, “medical students, who often enter university motivated by the desire to heal, accompany, and care for others, will be taught how to end the life of an innocent human being.”

“Chile is impoverished by a law like this because the character of a society is measured by the capacity of the social fabric — of which we are a part — to care for the defenseless and vulnerable,” Chomali insisted.

Finally, the cardinal called on the promoters of this “unjust law” to focus their attention on the elderly in lamentable situations — hidden away in homes evading state regulations, without social life, and abandoned — while encouraging them to “take legislative action to promote the specialty of palliative care in hospitals and clinics and places where they end their days, as well as to promote solid public policies in favor of older adults in terms of pensions and access to mental health and palliative care.”

“Let us propose laws that allow the sick to die in peace. Let us care for them with the ordinary means available to them through medicine … together with their families and with adequate medical, spiritual, and human assistance,” he proposed.

Chomali then urged: “Let us seriously ask ourselves what lies behind the obstinacy of promoting laws that attack the weakest in society, such as human beings in the womb and on the sickbed, and at the same time.”

“Are we not promoting the law of the jungle and violence to resolve human tragedies, sometimes dramatic ones, which is nothing more than abandoning the rule of law that has cost so much to establish?” the cardinal asked in conclusion.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Vatican City, Jun 11, 2025 / 05:50 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV reflected on Christian hope — one of the three theological virtues, along with faith and charity — during his general audience on Wednesday. 

“There is no cry that God does not hear, even when we are unaware that we are addressing him,” the pope said, illustrating this idea with the story of Bartimaeus, described in the Gospel of Mark as a blind beggar who encountered Jesus as he was leaving Jericho. 

Pope Leo explained that this story helps us understand that “we must never abandon hope, even when we feel lost.” 

The Holy Father today spoke on the healings performed by Jesus and invited Catholics to bring before the heart of Christ their “most wounded or fragile parts” or those areas of life where they “feel paralyzed or stuck.” 

“Let us ask the Lord with trust to hear our cry and heal us!” the pope said. 

Pope Leo focused on the attitude of Jesus, who does not immediately approach Bartimaeus but instead asks him what he wants. “It is not obvious that we truly want to be healed of our illnesses — sometimes we prefer to remain as we are so as not to take on new responsibilities,” he said. 

“It may seem strange that, faced with a blind man, Jesus does not immediately approach him. But if we think about it, this is how he helps reactivate Bartimaeus’ life: He prompts him to rise and entrusts him with the ability to walk,” the pope added. 

Indeed, the pope said that Bartimaeus does not only wish to see again — he also “wants to regain his dignity.” 

“To look upward, one must lift one’s head. Sometimes people feel stuck because life has humiliated them, and they simply want to regain their worth,” the Holy Father said. 

For this reason, he called on the faithful to do everything they can to obtain what they seek, “even when others scold you, humiliate you, or tell you to give up.”

“If you truly desire it, keep crying out!” he said. 

The pope stressed that what saves Bartimaeus is faith. “Jesus heals us so that we may be free,” he said. 

Exposing ourselves to Jesus with all our vulnerabilities 

Leo XIV also reflected on Bartimaeus’ gesture of casting off his cloak in order to stand up.

“For a beggar, the cloak is everything: It is security, it is home, it is the protection that shields him. In fact, the law protected a beggar’s cloak and required that it be returned by evening if it had been taken as a pledge,” he explained.

The pope compared the beggar’s cloak to the illusion of security that people often cling to.

“Often what holds us back are precisely these apparent securities — the things we have wrapped around ourselves for protection, which in reality prevent us from moving forward,” he said.

Pope Leo noted that, in order to go to Jesus and be healed, Bartimaeus “must expose himself to him in all his vulnerability” — a fundamental step on any path to healing.

Finally, the pope called on the faithful to trustingly bring to Jesus “our illnesses, as well as those of our loved ones,” and “the pain of those who feel lost and without a way out.”

“Let us cry out for them as well, and let us be certain that the Lord will hear us and will stop for us,” he said.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

The Colombian Embassy to the Holy See hosts a forum to address how the Church in Latin America is shaping social, economic, and environmentally sustainable development.

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Christians should bring “the pain of those who feel lost and without a way out” to Jesus Christ, according to Pope Leo XIV.

When officials of the Holy See made a pilgrimage through the Jubilee Holy Door this week, they were joined by an Orthodox theologian whose organization helped organize a major Catholic-Orthodox conference on the Council of Nicaea.

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Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of Tombura-Yambio Diocese in South Sudan emphasised the importance of formation, responsibility, and self-help initiatives for seminarians in training, thereby shaping the future priests.

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The Institute for the Works of Religion has published its Annual Report, showing results that include a dividend of €13.8 million for the Pope, in line with the Institute’s mission to support religious and charitable works.

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At his General Audience, Pope Leo XIV prays for the victims, families, and those affected by the mass shooting at a high school in Graz, Austria.

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