The position of the Catholic Church on the theory of evolution has moved over the 150 years since the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species in 1859 from a long period with no authoritative pronouncement from the Vatican, to a statement of neutrality in the 1950s, and then to more explicit acceptance by the late 20th Century. Today, the Church's official position remains a focus of controversy and is fairly non-specific, stating only that faith and scientific findings regarding human evolution are not in conflict, though humans are regarded as a "special creation", and that the existence of God is required to explain the spiritual component of human origins,