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Roman Catholics, he pointed out, cannot accept the opinion that all mankind was not descended from Adam or that the biblical figure of Adam really represents "a certain number of first parents." Such a position cannot be reconciled with the church's doctrine of original sin, "which proceeds from sin actually committed by an individual Adam, and which through generations is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own."
A majority of Roman Catholic teachers, noted the Pope, are far removed from the errors he had outlined. "But," he added, "we know also that such new opinions can entice the incautious; and therefore we prefer to withstand the very beginning, rather than to administer medicine after the disease has grown inveterate."