John Allen at the National Catholic Reporter has a fine, thorough summary of the ideas probably percolating in the seminar ("Schulerkreis") currently under way under the guidance of Benedict. I was particularly struck by this line from a 2004 Vatican document: But it is important to note that, according to the Catholic understanding of divine causality, true contingency in the created order is not incompatible with a purposeful divine providence.

Indeed. I hardly ever read a discussion of the whole question that doesn't make me want to bang my head on the desk. There is indeed an important war being waged at the cultural level about the atheism which is generally smuggled (if not openly transported) along with the scientific facts--or, even more, with pseudo-scientific conjectures based upon it . But even if it could be proven that, for instance, the Intelligent Design idea was complete bosh and chance rules entirely in biological development, the fundamental metaphysical questions involved would remain as they are, unresolvable and indeed unaddressable by physical science. Pre-TypePad