Genesis 1-11

So Genesis 1-11. These chapters get a lot of flack, particularly from scientist who say they prove the Bible wrong since they give the world such a short creation (of course, one may be forgetting that God can do whatever he darn well pleases, being God and all). There is also a lot of complaining by Traditional Catholics and Fundamentalists of any sort who say since the Bible is infallible the world cannot be over 6,000 years old.

What does the Church say? Not much of anything. One is allowed to believe the young world or the old world hypothosis. There are, however, certain fundamental truths that all Catholics are required to believe: that God created one man and one woman (whether by the dust of the ground or through evolution) and at one moment installed them with a soul. They were perfect and then fell through some means (most likely sexual temptation).

Jimmy Akin talks about this some here, specifically speaking on the flood narrative.