Adam and Eve

If a Catholic believes there was not an original set of parents (Adam and Eve) but rather a pool of early human couples (the position known as polygenism) then that Catholic has not only denied Church teaching but automatically rejects the infallible dogmas of Original Sin, Baptism, and the Immaculate Conception of Mary. Original sin was passed onto all humanity because of Adam and Eve’s fall from grace. “By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin, death, and so death passed upon all men in whom all have sinned.” (Rom 5:12). The sacrament of baptism is when one is born again and cleansed from original, mortal, and venial sin. The dogma of Immaculate Conception is the belief that from very first moment of Mary’s existence she was saved by the merits of Jesus Christ from the stain of original sin because God transcends time and space and can do anything. This why when the Blessed Virgin was with child visting her cousin Elizabeth she exclaimed, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior " (Lk 1:46-47) Catholics that think it is acceptable to hold the polygenism position are in for rude awaking if they read Pope Pius 's XII Encyclical Humani Generis which is part of the Ordinary Magisterium and carries the weight of Church teaching. "When, however, there is question of another conjectural opinion, namely polygenism, the children of the Church by no means enjoy such liberty. For the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains either that after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parents of all, or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now, it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the teaching authority of the Church proposed with regard to original sin which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam in which through generation is passed onto all and is in everyone as his own" (Humani Generis 37). Evem the new Catechism states that Genesis express the truth of creation and its origin. "Among all the Scriptural texts about creation, the first three chapters of Genesis occupy a unique place. ...The inspired authors have placed them at the beginning of Scripture to express in their solemn language the truths of creation - its origin and its end in God, its order and goodness, the vocation of man, and finally the drama of sin and the hope of salvation. Read in the light of Christ, within the unity of Sacred Scripture and in the living Tradition of the Church, these texts remain the principal source for catechesis on the mysteries of the "beginning": creation, fall, and promise of salvation." [289]

Many people were falsely lead to believe by the secular media that in the Message to Pontifical Academy of Sciences on October 22, 1996 by John Paul II; he endorsed the theory of evolution as a fact. Thus dispelling the belief in Adam and Eve. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Pope John Paul II actually stated, “Consequently, theories of evolution which, in accordance with the philosophies inspiring them, consider the mind as emerging from the forces of living matter, or as a mere phenomenon of this matter, are incompatible with the truth about man. Nor are they able to ground the dignity of the person.” In this statement, John Paul II was condemning every theory of evolution and there are many different schools of thought on the subject, because all of them without exception are inspired by the philosophies of materialism, atheism, secular humanism, and reductionism which are diametrically opposed to Christianity.

One can only conclude that the Catholic Church continues and will always teach that the human race is descended from Adam and Eve and any theory of origins that conflicts with these authoritative teachings must be false and hence opposed to Christianity.