http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theisti...atholic_Church
Evolution and the Roman Catholic Church
"The position of the Roman Catholic Church on the theory of evolution has changed over the last two centuries from a large period of no official mention, to a statement of neutrality in the 1950s, to limited guarded acceptance in recent years, rejecting the materialistic and reductionist philosophies behind it, and insisting that the human soul was immediately infused by God, and the reality of a single human ancestor (commonly called monogenism) for all of mankind.
The Church does not argue with scientists on matters such as the age of the earth and the authenticity of the fossil record, seeing such matters as outside its area of expertise. Papal pronouncements, along with commentaries by cardinals, indicate that the
Church is aware of the general findings of scientists on the gradual appearance of life. Indeed, Belgian priest Georges Lemaître, astronomer and physics professor at the Catholic University of Louvain, was the first to propose the theory of expansion of the universe, often incorrectly credited to Edwin Hubble. Under Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the International Theological Commission published a paper accepting the big bang of 15 billion years ago and the evolution of all life including humans from the microorganisms that formed approximately 4 billion years ago.[28] The Vatican has no official teaching on this matter except for the special creation of the human soul.[29] The Pontifical Biblical Commission issued a decree ratified by Pope Pius X on June 30, 1909 stating that
special creation applies to humans and not other species.[30]"
Catholic Church and evolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evoluti...atholic_Church