Editorial

Death to anti-Catholic myths

Some myths never die. Like the one about Catholics being diametrically opposed to science, and by extension, authentic human progress and enlightenment.

Look for a fresh onslaught of this ancient canard surrounding the release this week in theaters of "Angels and Demons," the sequel to the notorious and historically challenged movie, "The DaVinci Code."

"In the 1500s [physicists, mathematicians and astronomers] started meeting in secret because they were concerned about the Church's inaccurate teachings, and they were dedicated to scientific truth," relates Harvard "symbologist" Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) in a clip from the new movie (see story, Page 5). "And the Vatican didn't like that. So the Church began to ... hunt them down and kill them."

It doesn't make sense to get too heated about this obviously ridiculous premise, and even the director, Ron Howard, admits to taking abundant artistic license.

And yet... just good fictional fun?

Unfortunately not, at least not completely. The movie perpetuates a view of Catholicism that many non-Catholics and even some unprepared Catholics seem ready to buy into: The hierarchical Church distrusts science because it might expose our religion to be a sham.

The facts tell a different story. First, higher education, at least in the West, was spawned by European Catholic universities as early as the 11th century.

Second, some of the world's greatest scientists have been Catholic laymen and clergy (see sidebar, Pages 10-11).

Third, the Vatican today continues to sponsor scientific symposia of unprecedented caliber. In March, the Pontifical Council for Culture, the Pontifical Gregorian University and the University of Notre Dame assembled some of the world's leading scientists, philosophers and theologians for a weeklong conference in Rome called "Biological Evolution: Facts and Theories: A Critical Appraisal 150 Years After 'The Origin of Species.'"

"The Vatican listens and learns," U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada, the Vatican's doctrinal chief, said in opening remarks to the conference, according to Mercatornet.com.

And in June in the United States, the Vatican will sponsor a conference and release an English-language version of a book highlighting the achievements of astronomy over the centuries. (This book will be published in the United States by Our Sunday Visitor.)

So why does this myth of Catholic anti-intellectualism persist? Undoubtedly, as Pope John Paul II said in 1992, the controversy over the Church's condemnation of 17th-century astronomer Galileo Galilei's theories launched the "myth" of "an incompatibility between the spirit of science and its rules of research on the one hand and the Christian faith on the other."

The pope said this "tragic mutual incomprehension" illustrates the "the duty for theologians to keep themselves regularly informed of scientific advances."

Today, it may not be theology that misunderstands science, but science that misunderstands and distrusts the ethical insights offered by religion.

Those who believe that science should be cloistered from such insights continue to perpetuate the myth that the Church is hostile to science. This bias is evident in debates over cloning and embryonic stem-cell research.

And that is the context for understanding the newly released movie. It may be rip-roaring entertainment, but unfortunately it feeds a stereotype that is no laughing matter.