An editorial by Fiorenzo Facchini, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Bologna, Italy, said proponents of ID improperly blur the lines between science and faith.

"If the model proposed by Darwin is held to be inadequate, one should look for another model. But it is not correct methodology to stray from the field of science pretending to do science," Facchini wrote.

Views expressed in L'Osservatore are thought to reflect Vatican thinking because its content is published with official approval. Facchini also lauded a recent ruling by a federal judge in Pennsylvania that kept ID from being taught as science in public schools.