Pope
Benedict XVI delivered the following address to participants in
a conference sponsored by the Pontifical Academy for Life on the
theme "New Frontiers of Genetics and the Danger of Eugenics."
The conference coincided with the Pontifical Academy for Life's
15th general assembly.
Lord Cardinals,
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and Priesthood,
Illustrious Academicians,
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen!
I am especially pleased to receive you on the occasion of the
15th ordinary assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life. In
1994 my venerable predecessor, Pope John Paul II, instituted
this body under the presidency of a scientist, Professor Jerôme
Lejeune, understanding with foresight the delicate work that it
would have to undertake over the course of years. I thank the
president, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, for the words with which
he wished to introduce this meeting, confirming the Academy's
great dedication to the promotion and defense of human life.
From the time that the laws of heredity were discovered in the
middle of the 19th century by the Augustinian abbot Gregor
Mendel, who has been considered the founder of genetics, this
science has truly taken giant steps in understanding the
language at the basis of biological information, which
determines the development of a living being. It is for this
reason that modern genetics occupies a place of special
prominence in the biological disciplines, which have contributed
to the prodigious development of the knowledge of the invisible
architecture of the human body and the cellular and molecular
processes that preside over its multiple activities. Today
science has arrived at revealing the recondite mechanisms of
human physiology as well as the processes that are linked to the
appearance of certain defects that are inheritable from parents
along with processes that make some persons more susceptible to
contract an illness. This knowledge, the fruit of the genius and
toil of countless scholars, make it possible to more easily
arrive at not only a more effective and early diagnosis of
genetic maladies, but also to create therapies to alleviate the
contraction of illnesses and, in some cases, to restore, in the
end, the hope of regaining health. Moreover, from the time that
the whole sequence of the human genome became available, the
differences between one person and another and between different
human populations have also become the object of genetic
investigations, which allowed a glimpse of the possibility of
new conquests.
Today the area of research still remains open and every day new
horizons, in a large part unexplored, are disclosed. The work of
researchers in such enigmatic and precious areas requires a
special support; the cooperation between different sciences is a
support that can never be lacking if results are to be arrived
at that are effective and productive of authentic progress for
the whole of humanity. This complementarity makes it possible to
avoid the danger of a genetic reductionism that would identify
the person exclusively with his genetic information and his
interaction with his environment. It is again necessary to
emphasize that man is greater than all of that which makes up
his body; in fact, he carries with him the power of thought,
which is always drawn to the truth about himself and the world.
The words of Blaise Pascal, who was a great thinker as well as a
gifted scientist, return: "Man is only a reed, the weakest in
nature, but he is a thinking reed. There is no need for the
whole universe to take up arms to crush him: a vapor, a drop of
water is enough to kill him. But even if the universe were to
crush him, man would still be nobler than his slayer, because he
is able to know that he is dying and the advantage the universe
has over him. The universe, however, knows nothing of this" ("Pensées,"
347).
Every human being, then, is much more than a singular
combination of genetic information that is transmitted to him by
his parents. The generation of man can never be reduced to the
mere reproduction of a new individual of the human species, as
is the case with all other animals. Every appearance of a person
in the world is always a new creation. The words Psalm 139
recall this with deep wisdom: "You formed my inmost being; you
knit me in my mother's womb ... My very self you knew; my bones
were not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret" (13,
15). If we want to enter into the mystery of human life, then it
is necessary that no science isolate itself, pretending to have
the last word. Rather, the common vocation to arrive at the
truth -- according to the different methodologies and contents
proper to each science -- must be shared.
Your conference, in any case, does not only analyze the great
challenges that genetics is held to face; but it also extends to
the dangers of eugenics, which is certainly not a new practice
and which in the past has been the cause of real forms of
discrimination and violence. The disapproval of eugenics used
with violence by a regime, as the fruit of the hatred of a race
or group, is so rooted in consciences that it found a formal
expression in the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights."
Despite this, there are appearing in our days troubling
manifestations of this hateful practice, which present
themselves with different traits. Certainly ideological and
racist eugenics, which in the past humiliated man and provoked
untold suffering, are not again being proposed. But a new
mentality is insinuating itself that tends to justify a
different consideration of life and personal dignity based on
individual desire and individual rights. There is thus a
tendency to privilege the capacities for work, efficiency,
perfection and physical beauty to the detriment of other
dimensions of existence that are not held to be valuable.
In this way the respect that is due to every human being -- even
in the presence of a defect in his development or a genetic
illness that could manifest itself in the course of his life --
is weakened, and those children whose life is judged unworthy of
being lived are punished from the moment of conception.
It is necessary to reemphasize that every discrimination
exercised by any power in regard to persons, peoples or ethnic
groups on the basis of differences that stem from real or
presumed genetic factors is an act of violence against all of
humanity. What must be forcefully reemphasized is the equal
dignity of every human being according to the fact itself of
having life. Biological, psychological or cultural development
or state of health can never become an element of
discrimination. It is necessary, on the contrary, to consolidate
a culture of hospitality and love that concretely testifies to
solidarity with those who suffer, razing the barriers that
society often erects, discriminating against those who are
disabled and affected by pathologies, or worse - selecting and
rejecting in the name of an abstract ideal of health and
physical perfection. If man is reduced to an object of
experimental manipulation from the first stage of development,
that would mean that biotechnologies would surrender to the will
of the stronger. Confidence in science cannot forget the primacy
of ethics when human life is at stake.
I hope that your research in this sector, dear friends, will
continue with due scientific care and the attention that ethical
principles require in matters that are so important and decisive
for the fitting development of personal existence. This is the
wish with which I would like to conclude this meeting. As I
invoke copious heavenly light upon your work, I affectionately
impart to all of you a special apostolic blessing.
[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]
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