Why did Pope Pius XII accept the Big Bang theory in 1951?
Because it means a definite start to the Universe, just like Genesis says. The only real argument is about the meaning of “day” in Genesis. By 1951 it was already abundantly clear from geology that the Earth was billions of years old and the Universe was obviously older. The rival theory at the time was that of continuous creation which implied that the Universe was already infinitely old. If the Universe was infinitely old, that meant that Genesis had no relation to reality at all. In any case, the precursor to the big bang theory, called the “primeval atom” theory was proposed in the 1930s by Monsignor Georges Lemaitre, a Belgian priest and astronomer. Look up “Fred Hoyle” and “continuous creation” some time for more details. The RC church might be backward in some ways, but they got their fingers burnt over Galileo and they have not forgotten that. So when the evidence is there, they will accept it, sooner or later. Unlike some other religious organisations who just lie about anythi
Unlike some earlier pontiffs, Pius’s religious convictions did not cause him to oppose modern science. In fact, he was an energetic proponent of the theory of the Big Bang. As he told the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in 1951: “…it would seem that present-day science, with one sweep back across the centuries, has succeeded in bearing witness to the august instant of the primordial Fiat Lux [Let there be Light], when along with matter, there burst forth from nothing a sea of light and radiation, and the elements split and churned and formed into millions of galaxies.
After accepting the theory of Evolution in 1950, it was sensible to accept the theory of the Big Bang. Georges Lemaître (1894–1966), a Belgian Catholic priest and professor of physics and astronomy, proposed what became known as the Big Bang theory of the origin of the Universe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Lem… Here is a nice simple explanation of the Big Bang Theory which is currently the most accepted scientific theory of the origin of the universe: http://www.socyberty.com/Philosophy/The-… The Big Bang theory lends support to the idea of creation by God ex nihilo (“out of nothing”). In 1951, Pope Pius XII gave a speech before the Pontifical Academy of Sciences discussing the Big Bang theory: “…it would seem that present-day science, with one sweep back across the centuries, has succeeded in bea
Concerning cosmological evolution, the Church has infallibly defined that the universe was specially created out of nothing. Vatican I solemnly defined that everyone must “confess the world and all things which are contained in it, both spiritual and material, as regards their whole substance, have been produced by God from nothing” (Canons on God the Creator of All Things, canon 5). The Church does not have an official position on whether the stars, nebulae, and planets we see today were created at that time or whether they developed over time (for example, in the aftermath of the Big Bang that modern cosmologists discuss). However, the Church would maintain that, if the stars and planets did develop over time, this still ultimately must be attributed to God and his plan, for Scripture records: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host [stars, nebulae, planets] by the breath of his mouth” (Ps. 33:6). Concerning biological evolution, the Church does not have an
