WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A former Dominican priest who is a celebrated scientist is the recipient of the 2010 Templeton Prize, an annual award considered religion's equivalent to the Nobel prizes.

The John Templeton Foundation announced March 25 at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington that Francisco J. Ayala, 76, has won the award given to a person who has made "an exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery or practical works."

Ayala is an evolutionary geneticist and molecular biologist whose groundbreaking research into parasitic protozoa may lead to cures for malaria and other diseases. He has vigorously opposed the entanglement of science and religion while also calling for mutual respect between the two.

"I feel highly honored to be given this award," Ayala told Catholic News Service shortly before a news conference to announce the prize. "There is no doubt in my mind that there are other people who are more deserving."

Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, will officially award the prize at a private Buckingham Palace ceremony May 5.

Ralph J. Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences, nominated Ayala, who is the Donald Bren professor of biological sciences at the University of California, Irvine.

A Spanish-born Catholic who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, Ayala has equated efforts to block religious intrusions into science with "the survival of rationality in this country."

In 1981 he served as an expert witness in a pivotal U.S. federal court challenge that led to the overturning of an Arkansas law mandating the teaching of creationism alongside evolution. In 2001 he was awarded the National Medal of Science by President George W. Bush.

Presented annually since 1973 by the John Templeton Foundation, the Templeton Prize has a value of 1.12 million British pounds ($1.53 million), making it the world's largest annual monetary award to an individual.

At the Washington press conference, Cicerone said the broad influence of Ayala's scientific teaching and writings suggests "science is a way of knowing, but it is not the only way. The significance and purpose of the world and human life, as well as matters concerning moral or religious values, transcend science."

Born in Madrid in 1934, Ayala said his childhood interest in science was cultivated by the priests who taught him. He became a priest in 1960, but left the priesthood a short time later to attend Columbia University in New York, where he received his doctorate in 1964.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton appointed Ayala to the U.S. President's Committee of Advisers on Science and Technology. While president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science from 1993 to 1996, he developed a dialogue on science, ethics and religion.

In March 2009 Ayala was one of dozens of scientists, theologians and philosophers invited to speak at a Vatican-sponsored conference in Rome marking the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's "The Origin of Species," in which he put forth his theory on evolution.

Ayala has said that if science and religion "are properly understood, they cannot be in contradiction because science and religion concern different matters, and each is essential to human understanding. They are two experiences that are different and don't need to overlap. However, I think religion and science are compatible."

Ayala said he will be giving the prize money to pro bono and charitable institutions for student scholarships and other worthy causes.

"I don't need (the money) for my research," he told CNS. "My work is sufficiently well supported."

The late billionaire Sir John Marks Templeton, a pioneer global investor, established the prize in 1972. It is open to living individuals of any major world faith whose achievements have stirred others to deepen their relationship with God.

The first Templeton Prize was awarded to Mother Teresa of Calcutta in 1973, and during the last 37 years many Catholics have followed, including the 2007 winner, Canadian Catholic philosopher Charles Taylor, and the 2008 winner, Msgr. Michal Heller, a Polish priest and cosmologist.

When Templeton, a Presbyterian, announced that he was establishing the award, he said he wanted to give a positive thrust to faith.

He called it the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion but it was renamed in 2002 as the Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities to make it more closely associated with the founder's special interest in the relationship between religion and science.

Copyright © 2010 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Read U.S. Catholic's interview with Francisco J. Ayala.