I'm inclined to think that this event is not only a simple PR effort, but perhaps a somewhat hooded acknowledgment that the church has a long way to go to catch up with the credibility society vests in science: credibility once vested in the church.

The issue here isn't that both seek truth.  The issue is that this isn't a partnership in seeking that truth: the church wants to claim the authority over where science can, and cannot go.

I think the the case of French priest Tielhard de Chardin stands as a modern day parable as to just how committed the church is to that search for truth.  Just how many times was that man excommunicated, called to  Rome to recant, allowed back in, only to repeat again.  

I would love to believe that the church were sincere in all of this.  But it can no longer claim the high ground: a right to be the arbiter of truth, etc.  the fact that it even has to tell us that it seeks the truth is telling indeed...