Pope to publish evolution talks

There had been some concern that pope Benedict was going to deny evolution and embrace intelligent design. This was based on his inaugural address where he rejected the idea that humans are a product of evolution. But over the weekend Pope Benedict and his former doctoral students held a seminar on evolution. Preliminary reports suggest that the concerns that Pope Benedict was going to support intelligent design were far from the mark.

The minutes, to be issued later this year, will show how Catholic theologians see no contradiction between their belief in divine creation and the scientific theory of evolution, they said after the annual closed-door meeting ended on Sunday.

"When you look at the world and see what appears to be order and design, the conclusion that there is a designer is not a scientific conclusion, it's a philosophical one."