(Greek: bios, life; genesis, generation)

Name for the theory affirming that life originates only from pre-existing life; a fact supported by both reason and experience. The most minute and universal research has proved that all visible organisms arise only from germs of the same kind and never from inorganic matter. Reason affirms that the cause must be adequate to the effect; something cannot come from nothing. Lifeless matter can never generate life, the contradictory to its essential nature. Life owes its ultimate origin solely to the creative act of God. The name for the opposite theory which has no standing in science, is abiogenesis.

New Catholic Dictionary

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