VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Big Bang theory and evolution do not eliminate the existence of God, who remains the one who set all of creation into motion, Pope Francis told his own science academy.

And God’s existence does not contradict the discoveries of science, he told members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences Oct. 27.

“When we read the account of creation in Genesis, we risk thinking that God was a magician, complete with a magic wand, able to do everything. But it is not like that,” he said. “He created living beings and he let them develop according to the internal laws that he gave each one, so that they would develop and reach their full potential.”

God gave creation full autonomy while also guaranteeing his constant presence in nature and people’s lives, he said.

The beginning of the world is not a result of “chaos,” he said, but comes directly from “a supreme principle that creates out of love.”

“The Big Bang, which today is held as the beginning of the world, does not contradict the intervention of the divine creator, but requires it,” he said. “Evolution in nature is not at odds with the notion of creation because evolution presupposes the creation of beings that evolve.”

Members of the academy, many of them renowned scientists and philosophers, were meeting at the Vatican Oct. 24-28 to discuss “Evolving Concepts of Nature.”

Science, philosophy and religion have all contributed to how people see the world, how it began and what it all means, said the introduction to the academy’s program.

Despite many scientific advances, many mysteries remain, said Rafael Vicuna, professor of molecular genetics and molecular biology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. While Charles Darwin shed light on the origin of species, one of the most perplexing questions is the actual origin of life, Vicuna said.

How is it that inert, inanimate matter turned into something living, and how is it that the first living single-celled organisms were still so amazingly complex, he asked in his talk Oct. 27.

Chemistry, biology and genetics have been able to identify the tiniest components and basic building blocks of living organisms, but there is something more than just what they are made out of that makes them “living,” he said in an interview with the Catholic newspaper, Avvenire.

“I can know perfectly what a cell is made up of, but how it works deep down, what really is the dynamism that makes it move — that is, life — I don’t know,” Vicuna said. “A refrigerator and a car are complex structures that move, but only with an immense amount of energy from the outside. Life, in its deepest essence, remains something that escapes us.”

In his talk to academy members, Vicuna said the laws of chemistry and physics “do not suffice to grasp the whole of life … that life is more than molecules.”

Another mystery is how everything in the universe, from the smallest atomic particles to every galaxy, is spinning and orbiting, another academy member said.

“The Big Bang, which today is held as the beginning of the world, does not contradict the intervention of the divine creator, but requires it.”

Rudolf Muradyan, a quantum and mathematical physicist who also works in cosmology, said in his talk that spin “is the most important problem in our universe. It is the only thing that prevents the universe from totally collapsing.”

Without bodies rotating on an axis or orbiting each other, everything would fall: all the stars would become one giant black hole, the earth would crash into the sun and the moon would collide into the earth, he said.

He said the problem with the Big Bang theory is it explains linear motion, with everything moving outward and expanding from one common point as a result of the “bang,” but it does not account for the rotation of celestial objects, and theories that the universe was “born spinning.”

Philosophy and religion have to be careful to not make the mistake of trying to solve the mysteries in nature by making God “responsible for a natural process that escapes scientific explanation,” Vicuna said.

An example of this, he said, can be found in the intelligent design movement, which accepts that life has evolved over eons but asserts that it is so complex that its development must have been guided by a supreme being or intelligent agent.

Not only are intelligent-design proponents “denying nature’s autonomy, but they are also revealing some degree of ingenuousness, because science has already provided explanations for the development” of structures they had considered to be too complex to occur naturally, he said.

However, there is an argument for the “apparent design, order and purpose observed in nature,” he said, which is not to be confused with intelligent design and the “God of the gaps.”

Pierre Lena, a French Catholic astrophysicist, told the assembly that there are laws at work in the entire universe that are “eternal, creative, uniform in space and time and stable” enough to be fairly predictable.

“But these laws have a mystery. Why are they there? We can’t touch them, but they act. They are not God,” he said, but they are a sign of the “supranatural existence of something.”

He told Catholic News Service that scientists can observe laws working exactly the same way over time and space. This “strange property” means scientists can figure out what most likely happened one billion years ago, as well as “in a remote galaxy and here in this room with the same accuracy.”

“If the laws were changing, science would not be possible,” Lena said.

Early philosophers like Plato, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine all felt nature’s wonder and beauty reflected the beauty and perfection of their maker, Vicuna said.

However, “the existence of a divine creator of life and the universe” comes from personal belief and conviction, not scientific proof; science cannot empirically prove or disprove a God that transcends the natural sciences, he said.

— By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service.

ALBANY, N.Y. (CNS) — Entire families navigate their smartphones while sharing meals at restaurants. Students text in class. Parents take phone calls at their children’s sporting events and plays.

It’s no surprise that cellphones affect even church.

It has become common for parishes to place blurbs in their bulletins about silencing cellphones and for lectors to make announcements about it before liturgies, reminding parishioners they’re in a place of worship.

In some places, Massgoers heed the notices — with a few exceptions for people who work in emergency fields or don’t understand how to silence their phones. At other parishes, ringtones, texting or even taking calls during liturgies can distract the presider and the people in the pews.

Dorothy Sokol, parish life director at Our Lady of Grace Parish in Ballston Lake, notices phones ringing and worshippers texting at Mass, despite signs in two different places and announcements cautioning against it. She said some people don’t know they’re offending people, but she’s distracted by it, especially when parents let toddlers play electronic games on their phones.

Some parishioners use a tablet or smartphone to follow along with the readings for Mass, and “there’s a place” for that, she said.

As for texting, “people have to be conscious that they’re in church to pray with a community and to try, if possible, to put the distractions away,” Sokol told The Evangelist, Albany’s diocesan newspaper.

She’s not sure how to handle teenagers she’s seen texting repeatedly.

“What do you say?” she wondered. “Do you give the teenager grief when the parents are sitting right next to them and not saying anything? The last thing I want is for them to stop coming. You have to figure out what’s best. Unfortunately, asking, ‘What would Jesus do?’ isn’t a good question” — the Son of God never had a cellphone.

Father Richard Carlino, pastor of St. John the Evangelist and St. Anthony parishes in Schenectady, calls himself a “strong endorser of silencing the cellphones.” People cooperate for the most part, but some don’t hear the announcements at the start of each Mass.

“It throws my whole concentration off” when a phone rings during Mass, Father Carlino said. But “I don’t think they do it maliciously.”

In recent months, he’s also had to talk to parishioners about texting — which he considers less distracting than a ringing phone, but “still a distraction from what they’re supposed to be doing in church. Their mind is not on the Lord. There are exceptions, but the exceptions should be few.”

On the other hand, “I’m happy they’re there, even if they’re doing stuff they shouldn’t be.”

“I’ve watched people walk into telephone poles while they’re texting.”

Father Thomas Holmes, pastor of St. Henry Parish in Averill Park and St. Mary Parish in Nassau, gets so frustrated by poor technology etiquette at Mass that he joked about installing an electric dog fence around the churches — or at least a signal scrambler.

“Almost every weekend, somebody’s cellphone goes off during Mass, oftentimes during the consecration,” he said. “I often laugh, and it’s a sarcastic laugh. I’ve said a couple of times, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ I think they should be embarrassed.”

There’s a sign on the door of St. Henry’s asking those who enter to turn their phones off. Father Holmes was puzzled and disappointed when he noticed someone had crossed out the words.

“It’s disheartening,” he said. “There’s no reason for anybody to have their cellphone on in church.”

He has spotted teenagers and young adults texting at Mass, but hasn’t confronted anyone. Texting only distracts him if he notices it, but he still wishes it didn’t happen at all in church.

“I’ve watched people walk into telephone poles while they’re texting, so it doesn’t surprise me” that it’s hard to turn off the technology, he said. “People are attached. I’ve had parents tell me that their kids text each other while they’re sitting next to each other on the couch.

“Overall, I think people should have a little more sense when it comes to their cell phones. They forget why they’re (at church). It’s only an hour of their life.”

Andrea Freeman, office manager at St. Matthew’s in Voorheesville, saw someone texting at a wake, but said otherwise it doesn’t happen there often.

At Christ Our Light Parish in Loudonville, phones generally aren’t a problem, though a ringer did interrupt Deacon Dick Thiesen, the parish life director, once as he proclaimed the Gospel. He’s also seen parents texting during their children’s confirmations.

— By Angela Cave, Catholic News Service. Cave is a staff writer at The Evangelist, newspaper of the Diocese of Albany.

OSHKOSH, Wis. (CNS) — As the Catholic Campus Ministry director at the Newman Center on the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh campus, Fr. Jason Blahnik is always looking for new ways to engage young people and attract them to his Catholic ministry.

This summer, he discovered a new one.

While walking alongside the Fox River on a hot day, he was struck by the humor of a sign warning, “Danger, thin ice.” He thought, “I bet people would get a good laugh out of this.” He took a “selfie” — a photo of himself — with the sign and posted it on his Facebook page.

The selfie prompted the amused response he had hoped for from students who were not on campus for the summer. He then started posting selfies of himself standing near university landmarks that the absent students would recognize.

“With the students gone, this was a way to connect them with UW-Oshkosh and the Catholic ministry even if they weren’t there,” Fr. Blahnik told The Compass, newspaper of the Green Bay Diocese. “Kids do a lot of selfies and snapshots. It’s me putting a foot into their world. It endears them a little bit more to the ministry.”

He said that now that school is back in session, students are taking selfies of themselves at the Newman Center and are posting them as well.

“It’s a chance to communicate with them in a little bit different way than normal,” said Fr. Blahnik, who was ordained in 2009. His “selfies” posted on Facebook can be viewed via the link bit.ly/jason_selfies.

And how is it going over with the students? Fr. Blahnik obligingly asked for a nearby student’s opinion and got an enthusiastic response. “They think I’m the best, apparently,” he reported wryly.

In the back of his mind, Fr. Blahnik’s current approach was influenced by the popular selfies being taken by Pope Francis. “If the boss is doing it, I guess it’s OK,” Fr. Blahnik said.

In the university student union, campus organizations can set up information tables, and Fr. Blahnik plans to sponsor a table once a month with a cardboard cutout of Pope Francis that students can pose beside for selfies.

“We may need to create an album on Facebook just for those photos,” Fr. Blahnik said. “The aim of the tables is to be a voice if somebody has questions about the Catholic faith. It gives the students a chance to see the church is present on campus. Sometimes we need those reminders. It encourages them to think about religion. Sometimes we put that on the back burner when we’re busy.”

He said a hospitality committee of students will be present at the tables as well as at offerings at the Newman Center. “Regardless of who the person is, they will be feeling welcome, worshipping Christ, loving Christ and being loved by Christ,” he said.

Fr. Blahnik said he wants to reach out to young people on a personal level and to have fun. He is offering such activities as carving pumpkins, doing arts and crafts, playing Catholic charades, knitting baby caps for charities or just dancing around to music.

He said his foray into selfies is a way to show that he is willing to go to the young people’s level in a good way.

“There’s some authenticity there,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to connect with the culture of young people now, and they appreciate that. It shows that Christ can enter even into something like this.

“Some people think that if we’re having fun, we’re sinning. That’s not the case. It’s fun to be Catholic,” he explained. “There’s a joy to it, living and loving people. It’s a great life. There are so many ways of following Jesus in a good way. I want them to have fun.”

— By Jaye Alderson, Catholic News Service. Alderson writes from The Compass, newspaper of the Diocese of Green Bay.