Image courtesy Lemaître Archive at the Catholic University of Leuven.Stephen Hawking was a "theoretical physicist" which means the models to come to "conclusions" were moveable goalposts, so make of it what you will. What I find remarkable was Hawking lived 50 yrs with ALS, a beloved teacher contracted it and passed away after a year.
But here is who came up with the big bang theory
Two Priests, A Pope And The Big Bang
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There is no evidence that Fr. Georges Lemaître ever met Fr. Teilhard de Chardin, although their scientific careers overlapped to a considerable degree.
But they both played a role in one of the key debates about faith and science in the the last century.
Fr. Lemaître (1894-1966), the man who became known as the Father of the Big Bang, had a huge impact on cosmology in the mid 1920s and '30s. His idea of the 'primeval atom' (1931) set the stage for the mainstream Big Bang theory familiar to people today.
Image courtesy Lemaître Archive at the Catholic University of Leuven.Georges Lemaître
His ideas also inspired the Jesuit paleontologist Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) in his writings on human evolution and the prospect of a dynamic cosmos developing towards a metaphysical Omega Point.
Both men were standouts in their fields-- Lemaître more so than Teilhard, I would say, but both attracted the attention of the press because of the fact they were Catholic priests as well as scientists, rare birds then, as now.
But only one of the two, Fr. Lemaître, was honored by his own Church, while Fr. Teilhard... was treated like a leper.
If they are talking about a big bang that lasted 6 days, I would tend to agree with them. 
