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by kilpikaarna 25 days ago
Surprised if the Pope really cares about some Fair & Balanced coverage of Young Earth creationism. Isn’t the Big Bang official Catholic doctrine?
4 comments

Young Earth Creationism is a purely Protestant belief. Although I'm aware of only one Hindu-ish faith that believes in YEC - the Brahma Kumaris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahma_Kumaris

Disclaimer: my first girlfriend got us both involved in that faith.

No there are Jewish sects who claim to know how old the earth is.

(It is considered tradition in my country to ridicule and insult people's most closely held beliefs but they always get a pass for historical reasons)

It's not doctrinal but not opposed either, as it is irrelevant to Salvation. Whether the universe was created that way or not doesn't change the fact that God, if the BBT did in fact happen, was it's architect. The Church maintains that this is a possibility.

This used to be free, now I guess it has a sub, but you might be able to ask it a few questions before you reach limit. https://www.mastercatechism.com/

This is also a wealth of information on what's dogmatic and what isn't. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/

But yeah, the catechism is the single source of truth on that stuff. Baltimore, Trent. Those two are the best. The doctrine doesn't change amongst catechisms only the writing style. I like those two the best.

> Isn’t the Big Bang official Catholic doctrine?

No, its not. There is no official doctrine on things like that (i.e. not in the catechism, the statement of the beliefs of the church) but it has been endorsed by some comments by Popes and bishops. Similarly there are statements that evolution is well proven, but its not in the catechism either.

The top tier of official doctrine are the conclusions of councils of the Church (there have been 21 ever) and ex cathedra statements of popes (there are fewer of those). None of those discusses the big bang or similar.

The article is poorly written. "The report" there refers to the linked study in the previous paragraph, not the Pope's encyclical.