WHAT CATHOLICS MUST BELIEVE ABOUT CREATION

Magisterium of the Catholic Church has defined what Catholics must believe about the history of creation:

The creation by God of all things at the beginning of time
The special creation by God of man
Formation of woman from man
Unity of the human race
The original happiness of our first parents in a state of justice
The divine command laid upon man by God to prove obedience
Transgression of that command at the instigation of the devil in the form of a serpent
The fall of our original parents from their primitive state of innocence.
The promise of a future redeemer

Humani Generis, Pope Pius XII [also see: Dr. S. Hahn: Genesis 1-22: The Covenant as a Family Affair; Pope Pius X: Pascendi Dominici Gregis, Sept. 8, 1907].

The Catholic Church rejects the theory that the first chapters of Genesis are pure myth. For what the catechism teaches about creation see the Catechism of the Catholic Church #s 198, 279-327.