This is an interesting notice out of the Vatican.

A Vatican cardinal said Thursday the faithful should listen to what secular modern science has to offer, warning that religion risks turning into "fundamentalism" if it ignores scientific reason.

"The permanent lesson that the Galileo case represents pushes us to keep alive the dialogue between the various disciplines, and in particular between theology and the natural sciences, if we want to prevent similar episodes from repeating themselves in the future," Poupard said.

John Derbyshire had an interesting take on this development as well.

One thing I'll say for the Pope & his legions though, in all sincerity: They take the human intellect seriously. (I don't say they ALWAYS did; I say they currently do. They learned a B--I--G institutional lesson from the Galileo fiasco & are determined not to be caught like THAT again.) A Catholic intellectual is, more often than not, a real intellectual. I don't say I'd agree with him about everything, or even anything, but I know I'd have a real fight on my hands, against someone who knew how to throw a punch.

I find this to be generally true, as well. There's no denying that however goofy their institutional dogmas, the guys who run the Catholic Church are exceptionally well-educated and even hyper-literate (able to read, write, and converse in well over three languages). I wonder if this pro-Intellectualism among Catholics is in some way a reflection of the Church's European, Old Worldly roots? Alternately, American Evangelicalism has its roots in the South and Dust Belt, areas first settled (and spiritually defined) not by university educated priests, but by the descendants of dirt poor Scots and Irish.