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Pope Benedict XVI- Addresses |
 "God
Loves Every Human Being in a Unique and Profound Way"
Papal Address to the Pontifical Academy for Life
H.H. Benedict XVI
February 13, 2010
Dear brothers in
the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,
Illustrious members of the "Pontificia Academia Pro Vita,"
Kind Ladies and Gentlemen!
I am glad to cordially welcome and greet you on the occasion of
the general assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life, called
to reflect on themes pertaining to the relationship between
bioethics and the natural moral law, which appear evermore
relevant in the present context because of the continual
development in the scientific sphere. I address a special
greeting to Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of this
academy, thanking him for the courteous words that he wanted to
address to me in the name of those present. I would also like to
extend my personal thanks to each of you for the precious and
irreplaceable work that you do on behalf of life in various
contexts.
The issues that revolve around the theme of bioethics allow us
to confirm how much these underlying questions in the first
place pose the "anthropological question." As I state in my last
encyclical letter, "Caritas in Veritate:" "A particularly
crucial battleground in today's cultural struggle between the
absolutism of technology and human moral responsibility is the
field of bioethics, where the very possibility of integral human
development is radically called into question. In this most
delicate and critical area, the fundamental question asserts
itself force-fully: is man the product of his own labors or does
he depend on God? Scientific discoveries in this field and the
possibilities of technological intervention seem so advanced as
to force a choice between two types of reasoning: reason open to
transcendence or reason closed within immanence" (no. 74).
Before such questions, which touch in such a decisive manner
human life in its perennial tension between immanence and
transcendence, and which have great relevance for the culture of
future generations, it is necessary to create a holistic
pedagogical project that permits us to confront these issues in
a positive, balanced and constructive vision, above all in the
relationship between faith and reason. The questions of
bioethics often place the reminder of the dignity of the person
in the foreground. This dignity is a fundamental principle that
the faith in Jesus Christ crucified and risen has always
defended, above all when it is ignored in regard to the humblest
and most vulnerable persons: God loves every human being in a
unique and profound way. Bioethics, like every discipline, needs
a reminder able to guarantee a consistent understanding of
ethical questions that, inevitably, emerge before possible
interpretive conflicts. In such a space a normative recall to
the natural moral law presents itself. The recognition of human
dignity, in fact, as an inalienable right first finds its basis
in that law not written by human hand but inscribed by God the
Creator in the heart of man. Every juridical order is called to
recognize this right as inviolable and every single person must
respect and promote it (cf. "Catechism of the Catholic Church,"
nos. 1954-1960).
Without the foundational principle of human dignity it would be
difficult to find a source for the rights of the person and the
impossible to arrive at an ethical judgment if the face of the
conquests of science that intervene directly in human life. It
is thus necessary to repeat with firmness that an understanding
of human dignity does not depend on scientific progress, the
gradual formation of human life or facile pietism before
exceptional situations. When respect for the dignity of the
person is invoked it is fundamental that it be complete, total
and with no strings attached, except for those of understanding
oneself to be before a human life. Of course, there is
development in human life and the horizon of the investigation
of science and bioethics is open, but it must be reaffirmed that
when it is a matter of areas relating to the human being,
scientists can never think that what they have is only inanimate
matter capable of manipulation in their hands. Indeed, from the
very first moment, the life of man is characterized as "human
life" and therefore always a bearer -- everywhere and despite
everything -- of its own dignity (cf. Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, "Instruction 'Dignitas Personae' on
Certain Bioethical Questions," no. 5). Without this
understanding, we would always be in danger of an instrumental
use of science with the inevitable consequence of easily ceding
to the arbitrary, to discrimination and to the strongest
economic interest.
Joining bioethics and natural moral law permits the best
confirmation of the necessary and unavoidable reminder of the
dignity that human life intrinsically possesses from its first
instant to its natural end. But in the contemporary context,
while a just reminder about the rights that guarantee dignity to
the person is emerging with ever greater insistence, one notes
that such rights are not always recognized in the natural
development of human life and in the stages of its greatest
fragility. A similar contradiction makes evident the task to be
assumed in different spheres of society and culture to ensure
that human life always be seen as the inalienable subject of
rights and never as an object subjugated to the will of the
strongest.
History has shown us how dangerous and deleterious a state can
be that proceeds to legislate on questions that touch the person
and society while pretending itself to be the source and
principle of ethics. Without universal principles that permit a
common denominator for the whole of humanity the danger of a
relativistic drift at the legislative level is not at all
something should be underestimated (cf. "Catechism of the
Catholic Church," no. 1959). The natural moral law, strong in
its universal character, allows us to avert such a danger and
above all offers to the legislator the guarantee for an
authentic respect of both the person and the entire created
order. It is the catalyzing source of consensus among persons of
different cultures and religions and allows them to transcend
their differences since it affirms the existence of an order
impressed in nature by the Creator and recognized as an instance
of true rational ethical judgment to pursue good and avoid evil.
The natural moral law "belongs to the great heritage of human
wisdom. Revelation, with its light, has contributed to further
purifying and developing it" (John Paul II, Address to the
Plenary Assembly of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the
Faith, February 6, 2004).
Illustrious members of the Pontifical Academy for Life, in the
present context your task appears more and more delicate and
difficult, but the growing sensitivity in regard to human life
is an encouragement to continue, with ever greater spirit and
courage, in this important service to life and the education of
future generations in the evangelical values. I hope that all of
you will continue to study and research so that the work of
promoting and defending life be ever more effective and
fruitful. I accompany you with the apostolic blessing, which I
gladly extend to those who share this daily task with you.
[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]
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