Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.

The Holy See clarified that those statements by members of the Church in particular those made on the hundredth anniversary of Teilhard's birth were not to be interpreted as a revision of previous stands taken by the Church officials.

Teilhard's position was opposed by his Church superiors and some of his work was denied publication during his lifetime by the Roman Holy Office. This displeased certain officials in the Roman Curia and in his own order who thought that it undermined the doctrine of original sin developed by Saint Augustine. More recently Pope John Paul II indicated a positive attitude towards some of Teilhard's ideas.