Pope: Creation versus Evolution an 'Absurdity'

I'm not an expert on evolution, macro or micro or in between, but I would not be surprised nor disappointed to learn that man was descended from apes. Both have the same Creator and Father. The human soul is the critical difference between humans and animals, not DNA. The evolution debate seemed more important to me a half dozen or more years ago.

One problem is understanding how death and disease could've existed before Adam's sin. I'm guessing this was caused by the angels' fall rather than man's. To be honest, nothing much makes sense to me except Christ. He really is the answer.