Intelligent Design- Religion only

Finally we come to the assertion I made in my response to Leon Wieseltier about Cardinal Schonborn's opinion being just one of many opinions among faithful Catholics. Actually it is not my response at all, but John Allen's. Allen is the National Catholic Reporter's correspondent in Rome. His Word From Rome column , which is posted weekly on the National Catholic Register website and accessible for free at
www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/ (if you become a frequent reader, please consider a small donation), addresses the issue nicely in two separate columns, his column of 5 August 2005 and 22 July 2005. Since I have nothing add that he doesn't cover in his comments and interviews, I encourage anybody interested to read them. To do so just click on "Archives" off the link above and you'll easily locate them. Additionally, the 22 July column links to his article published in NCRonline 26 July.

To entice you to his 5 August column here's a quote from "Sir Martin Rees, an eminent British astronomer and a member of the Pontifical Academy of Science, as saying in reply to Cardinal Schoborn: 'I was dismayed by the content and tone of the article by Cardinal Schönborn. I very much hope that the Pontifical Academy can dissociate itself from such sentiments.'" His 22 July column contains excerpts from an interview he conducted with Professor Nicola Cabibbo, president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. You can also access a link to her complete interview. The 22 July column also contains a briefer interview with Jesuit Fr. George Coyne, an American astrophysicist who is the director of the Vatican observatory. Needless to say both are very critical of Cardinal Schonborn's op-ed piece.

Finally, Cardinal Schoborn's opinion is at odds with a document issued by the International Theological Commission, an adjunct of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, under the Prefecture of then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger entitled, COMMUNION AND STEWARDSHIP:Human Persons Created in the Image of God.
This document is accessible in English at the following link http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20040723_communion-stewardship_en.html