Did Neanderthals have a soul? From when do people exists/have soul?

Did Neanderthals have a soul? From when do people exists/have soul?

Do animals have souls like human beings?

The Catholic Church teaches that animals may have mortal souls whereas modern man (after Adam and his descendants) has an immortal soul!

Do animals have souls? Do plants have plant souls? Although not a defined dogma, it is permitted for Catholics to believe Neanderthals may have possessed an animal, yet mortal soul only.

The soul is the principle of life. Since animals and plants are living things, they have souls, but not in the sense in which human beings have souls. Our souls are rational–theirs aren’t–and ours are rational because they’re spiritual, not material.

Animals and plants can’t do anything which transcends the limitations of matter. Although some animals seem clever, they don’t actually possess conceptional intelligence. They can’t, for instance, conceive of the abstract notion of justice.

Most people have experienced the sadness of witnessing an animal die, usually a beloved pet who brought great joy throughout their short lifespan. During the grieving period, it’s common for parents to tell children that there’s a special place for all the animals who have departed from their world – like a pet heaven.

This image of a pet no longer in pain and experiencing paradise can certainly alleviate the worry of a young child wondering where their favourite animal has gone to, but is there any truth to the claim?

The Church has no official teaching on the matter of pets entering heaven, but there are theological principles that can direct us to what answer is most probable.

Catholics believe that all living things have souls, and this includes not only humans, but also plants and animals. When a living thing dies, the soul separates from its body or organic makeup. In the case of animals, the soul goes out of existence. However, the souls of human beings are radically different from the souls of other living things. Whereas the souls of animals are contingent upon their material makeup, human souls remain in existence after death because it is immaterial.

This means that that human souls can’t be destroyed, and so are immortal.

Reasonable

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said in a sermon in 2008, that when an animal dies, it “just means the end of existence on earth”. It’s reasonable to believe then that all animals that die before the Second Coming and the creation of the “new heaven and new earth” will cease to exist.

This, however, doesn’t necessarily mean that there won’t be any animals after the Second Coming.

Some theologians argue that animals flourished in the Garden of Eden, before sin entered the world, and so there’s no inherent or theological contradiction in positing that God could create more animals.Animals were present when the fullness of grace abounded. However, others argue that there will be no need for animals to exist in the new creation, which pertains to ultimately knowing and loving God. Of course, this is all just speculative, and we will only really ever find out the answer at the end of time.

“The souls of human beings are radically different from the souls of other living things”

Do animals go to heaven?

Ultimately, this question should deal with the prospect of whether or not the Neanderthals had the intellectual ability to worship God. In other words were the Neanderthals more animal like or human like?

For those who believe in evolution, the Catholic Church allows the faithful to believe in this theory. The Church equally makes some qualitative point that are to be observe in this domain.

It is equally impermissible to dismiss the story of Adam and Eve and the fall (Gen. 2–3) as a fiction. A question often raised in this context is whether the human race descended from an original pair of two human beings (a teaching known as monogenism) or a pool of early human couples (a teaching known as polygenism).

In this regard, Pope Pius XII stated:

“When, however, there is question of another conjectural opinion, namely polygenism, the children of the Church by no means enjoy such liberty. For the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains either that after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parents of all, or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now, it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the teaching authority of the Church proposed with regard to original sin which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam in which through generation is passed onto all and is in everyone as his own” (Humani Generis 37).

In other words, either Adam and Eve were created as the Scriptures literally tells us or Adam and Eve somehow evolved from some preexisting humanoid form such as the Neanderthals. Only Adam and Eve along with their descendants were infused with the gift of an immortal and rational soul. Thus Neanderthals would not have possessed an immortal soul! They simply possessed a mortal soul like that of any other animal lower in dignity than man.

Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels: thou hast crowned him with glory and honour, and hast set him over the works of thy hands. - Hebrews 2:7

The human lineage of Australopithecus afarensis, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Neanderthals and Homo sapiens.

Although they say nothing is written in stone, with the exemption of the Ten Commandments written by God, there is lots of room for debate on this issue of human evolution. This is just one perspective.

Just today the news made headlines:

• Remains of nine Neanderthals found in cave south of Rome May 8, 2021.

My personal dilemma is whether the Sasquatch (Bigfoot) a living relic of the Neanderthal???