By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Writer Less than a week after researchers in Geneva declared they are the verge of reproducing a mini-version of the Big Bang, the Holy See Press Office announced plans for an upcoming international conference on evolution. Entitled, “Biological Evolution: Facts and Theories. A Critical Appraisal 150 years after 'The Origin of Species',” the conference is due to be held in Rome from March 3-7, 2009. An academic rather than an ecclesial congress, it is being jointly organised by the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, U.S.A., under the patronage of the Pontifical Council for Culture and as part of the STOQ Project (Science, Theology and the Ontological Quest). “Debates on the theory of evolution are becoming ever more heated, both among Christians and in specifically evolutionist circles,” said Fr. Marc Leclerc, S.J., professor of the philosophy of nature at the Pontifical Gregorian University, at a press conference. “In particular, with the approach of the ... 150th anniversary of the publication of 'The Origin of Species', Charles Darwin's work is still too often discussed more in ideological terms than in the scientific ones which were his true intention. “In such circumstances - as Christian scientists, philosophers and theologians directly involved in the debate alongside colleagues from other confessions or of no confession at all - we felt it incumbent upon us to bring some clarification.” The aim of the conference is to generate rational discussion and dialogue in scholars from various fields and areas of expertise, he said. “The Church has profound interest in such dialogue, while fully respecting the competencies of each and all. This is, however, an academic congress, organised by two Catholic universities, the Gregorian University in Rome and Notre Dame in the United States, and as such is not an ecclesial event. Yet the patronage of the Pontifical Council for Culture serves to underline the Church's interest in such questions.” This announcement comes less than a week after researchers from the European Organization for Nuclear Research announced that a 17-mile super particle accelerator called a Large Hadron Collider (LHC), located outside Geneva, will likely reproduce a mini version of the Big Bang. The LHC will accelerate two beams of protons to near light speed and then smash the particles into each other in hopes of creating concentrations of energy which they believe will mimic what happened seconds after the Big Bang. Scientists have only fired test shots and won't start making steps toward the main objective of the experiment until mid-October when larger-scale firings are scheduled.   © All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly/Women of Grace. http://www.womenofgrace.com