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There are different ways to read and understand the Bible.

Some Christians believe that the Bible stories, including the Genesis account, should be taken literally. This means that the biblical accounts are to be taken as fact, ie that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, and that no alternative or scientific theory is considered.

This view is not one that is promoted by the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church teaches that the Bible accounts and stories have to be understood within the time that they were written. The authors of the biblical books had limited knowledge of science and the world, so the Genesis account was their way of trying to explain what they believed.

The Catholic Church interprets the Genesis account alongside science and reason to try and understand the key message – that God is responsible for the creation of the world. Science may be able to explain how the universe was created, but the Catholic Church teaches that religion explains the reason it was created.