Humani Generis

For the second time this year, Pope Pius XII issued an encyclical letter warning the world's Roman Catholics of danger to their church. The first, in March, called attention to such external threats as atheism and Communism. The second, published last week and directed at dangers from within, dealt with "some false opinions which threaten to undermine the foundations of Catholic doctrine."

Titled, like all such letters, from its first two Latin words, Humani Generis (Of Mankind), the encyclical cracked down hard on Roman Catholic teachers, priests and philosophers who for various reasons are drifting away from the dogmas of the church and the orthodox system of thought laid down by St. Thomas Aquinas. It is a mistake, wrote Pius, to think that there is the same room for discussion of theological matters today as there was earlier in the church's history.

Matter v. Spirit. For one thing, said the Pope, dogma is constantly being defined (as in the forthcoming dogma of the Assumption--TIME, Aug. 28). For another, the encyclical letters were themselves designed to clarify certain questions and so make further speculation on them unnecessary. If the encyclicals "pass judgment on a matter up to that time under dispute, it is obvious that the matter . . . cannot be any longer considered a question open to discussion . . ."

The Pope quickly disposed of such theories as "the new erroneous philosophy which . . . has assumed the name of existentialism," and went on to cite some others who have departed from the church's teachings. Among them:

P:Those who doubt that "human reason, without divine revelation and the help of divine grace, can . . . prove the existence of a personal God."

P:Those who "question whether angels are personal beings, and whether matter and spirit differ essentially."

P:Those who say "they are not bound by the doctrine . . . which teaches that the mystical body of Christ and the Roman Catholic Church are one and the same things . . . [and] reduce to a meaningless formula the necessity of belonging to the true church in order to gain salvation."

P:Those who rely on their own interpretation of the scripture to judge church doctrine "instead of explaining holy scripture according to the mind of the church, which Christ our Lord has appointed guardian and interpreter of the whole deposit of divinely revealed truth."

Science v. Faith. Finally, the Pope turned to the old problem of science v. faith--specifically, the question of evolution. Discussion of evolution between scientists and theologians is certainly not forbidden, he wrote, providing that the arguments for & against are fairly stated and "that all are prepared to submit to the judgment of the church . . ." Roman Catholics, however, are overstepping these bounds "when they act as if the origin of the human body from pre-existing and living matter were already completely certain . . ."

Roman Catholics, he pointed out, cannot accept the opinion that all mankind was not descended from Adam or that the biblical figure of Adam really represents "a certain number of first parents." Such a position cannot be reconciled with the church's doctrine of original sin, "which proceeds from sin actually committed by an individual Adam, and which through generations is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own."

A majority of Roman Catholic teachers, noted the Pope, are far removed from the errors he had outlined. "But," he added, "we know also that such new opinions can entice the incautious; and therefore we prefer to withstand the very beginning, rather than to administer medicine after the disease has grown inveterate."

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