Actually I have observed now and then a sort of creeping fundamentalism among young, semi-educated Catholics, perhaps as a consequence of the political alliance between right-wing Catholics and Evangelicals.

It would be interesting to study references to Adam, Eve, and the Garden of Eden in Catholic authors over the centuries, and consider how literally they took that story. Elaine Pagels did a fair amount of work of that sort in "Adam, Eve, and the Serpent." 

One brilliant example of a non-literal, or at best a semi-literal interpretation is seen in Michelangelo's famous image of "The Creation of Adam," on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. If that place cannot strictly be called the physical "heart" of the Catholic church, it is perhaps at least its pulmonary aorta, so the toleration there of a not strictly accurate illustration of a biblical scene tells us a lot.