It remains for us now to speak about these questions which, although they pertain to the positive sciences, are nevertheless more or less connected with the truths of Christian faith. In fact, not a few insistently demand that the Catholic religion take these sciences into account as much as possible. This certainly would be praiseworthy in case of clearly proved facts; but caution must be used when there is rather a question of hypotheses having some sort of scientific foundation in which doctrine contained in Sacred Scripture or in Tradition is involved. If such conjectural opinions are directly or indirectly opposed to the doctrine revealed by God, then the demand that they be recognized can in no way be admitted. For these reasons, the teaching authority does not forbid that, in conformity with the present state of human sciences and sacred theology [i.e. in 1950], research and discussions on the part of men experienced in both fields take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution insofar as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter - for Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God.
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