In 1996 Pope John Paul II supposedly issued a statement this week saying new research shows that physical evolution is
"more than just a theory," a significant step beyond the Catholic Church's pronouncement nearly 50 years ago
that evolution was worthy of discussion but still an open question.

<span style="background-color:#FFFF00">The pope nevertheless said the human soul is divinely created anew in each person,</span><span style="background-color:#FFFF00">and not subject to the evolutionary process. Any other teaching, he said, is "incompatible with the truth about man."</span>