Catholicism and Science

Perhaps more than at any other time in American history, science and scientific knowledge are under attack, with much of the opposition to science coming from Christians. Typically, this hostility to science stems from its rejection of supposed Biblical truths (e.g., evolution versus creationism) or because it supposedly promotes politically motivated hoaxes (e.g., climate change). 

However, this hostility does not reflect the traditional Catholic attitude toward the sciences. Instead, scientific knowledge has traditionally been viewed as a gift from God, as "a wonderful product of a God-given human creativity,” as Pope St. John Paul II said in an address to scientists assembled in Hiroshima in 1981. Scientific knowledge is an expression of God’s grace and an extension of God’s self-revelation that allows us to better understand the world around us, to act on the world around us in a way that improves both the human condition and the condition of the numerous life forms that have an intrinsic dignity in and of themselves and upon which our survival depends, and to more profoundly appreciate the complexities and the interdependencies of the world that God has called into being. 

Historically, Catholicism and science have had a close relationship, and the church has played a major role in advancing scientific knowledge. To cite just a few examples, Gregor Mendel, an Augustinian priest, founded the modern science of genetics through his experiments with peas; Blaise Pascal, a Catholic theologian, founded mathematical probability theory; and Monsignor George Lemaître formulated the Big Bang theory, which is now the prevailing explanation for the origin of the universe. Today, the Vatican Observatory plays a leading role in advancing scientific knowledge in astronomy and astrophysics, and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences pursues research across a wide array of scientific fields while also promoting a sense of international community among scientists. (To counter this, skeptics point to the Church’s handling of Galileo’s discoveries. To quickly summarize a complex exchange, however, although the Church was guilty of over-reacting, its basic objection was not to Galileo’s theories, but rather to his methodology--or his reluctance to validate his theories in accordance with established scientific methods--and his arrogance.) 

Science, however, is not value neutral. In his address at Hiroshima, Pope St. John Paul II reminded us that science was an agent of death for tens of thousands of innocent human beings. It remains true today that perfecting the means of death both for humans and for the many and sundry life forms that some view as nuisances remains a major focus of science. For that reason, a major objective of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences is to provide a moral framework and a system of ethics within which scientific research can proceed and scientific knowledge can be applied. 

As Catholics, then, we are called not to reject scientific truths, nor to accept or reject science based on a calculus of convenience, but rather to embrace science and scientific discovery. We are, however, called to question the application of science – that is, to ask ourselves whether science is applied in a way that benefits all humankind, rather than a select and typically wealthy elite; whether scientific knowledge in one area is applied in a way that incorporates knowledge in other areas and so minimizes unintended side effects; and whether the application of science benefits rather than harms our common home and the rich diversity of human, animal, and plant life that it supports.