65 Years of Priestly Life. The history of a Journey 22 cause of the universe. As for the how or modality of creation, the author has used a story that was intelligible to the readers at the time of its writing and in a literary style adapted to their situation. This can undergo change in the light of new understanding and data. Today science is best equipped to tell us about the ‘how’ aspect of the origin of the universe, and we remain open to it. But the other aspect of the ‘who’ is also necessary and remains unchanged. Thus, one can see a relationship of complementarity between the biblical and the scientific views. Galileo, quoting the famous Cardinal Caesar Baronius, has described this situation beautifully: “The Bible teaches how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go.” D. The Big Bang and the Catholic Church 1. Scriptural Interpretation The Catholic Church has come a long way with regard to scriptural interpretation. Gone are the days of Galileo when she insisted on a literal interpretation of the text, even in the case of passages dealing with science and cosmology. Today the predominant view is that we need to make a distinction between what is said in the Bible (the fundamental message) and how it is said (the mode of communication). The former comes from the Holy Spirit directly and so endures for all times. The latter depends on the concrete situation in which the text is written and the persons to whom it is addressed since the purpose of the Bible is not to teach cosmology but to guide people to lead a virtuous, happy life. In the case of the creation story in the Bible, the fundamental message is the contingency of the universe and hence its dependence on a divine being. Accordingly, the Bible affirms that the universe is not self-created, it was created by God and is dependent on God for its being. On the other hand, the mode of communication depends on the linguistic tools and factual data available at the time of writing. Hence hermeneutics and interpretation become important to make the text more meaningful to contemporary readers. When better tools and data become available, there can be better ways of understanding and communicating the fundamental message. In this process the findings and methods of science can help to understand and interpret scriptural texts better. Hence today there is considerable openness in the Church towards science and its findings. The documents of the Second Vatican Council bear eloquent testimony to this positive spirit of engagement with science. 2. The Church Documents on the Big Bang a. Official Documents The response of the Catholic Church to the Big Bang is to be understood in the spirit discussed above. In this connection the statement of the International Theological Commission in July 2004, which was endorsed by its then President Cardinal Ratzinger is very relevant: “According to the widely accepted scientific account, the universe erupted 15 billion years ago in an explosion called the Big Bang and has been expanding and cooling ever since. Later there gradually emerged the conditions necessary for the formation of atoms, still later the condensation of galaxies and stars, and about 10 billion years later the formation of planets. In our own solar system and on earth (formed about 4.5 billion years ago),the conditions have been favourable to the emergence of life.” b. The popes on the Big Bang - Pius XII Although several popes in recent times spoke of the Big Bang. Pope Pius XII was most enthusiastic about it, primarily because it came up during his pontificate and he knew Lemaitre personally since the latter was a regular member as well as one-time President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Accordingly, the Bible affirms that the universe is not self-created, it was created by God and is dependent on God for its being.
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