At 11:15am today, in the Hall of Popes at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience the members of the Italian National Committee for Biosecurity, Biotechnology and Life Sciences who are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the foundation of this Committee as part of the Presidency of the Council of Ministries.
Illustrious ladies and gentlemen,
I cordially welcome each one of you and I thank your President, Professor Andrea Lenzi for the courteous words with which he has introduced our encounter. First of all, I wish to express my appreciation for the work that has been carried out by the National Committee for Biosecurity, Biotechnology and Life Sciences during the past 25 years within the Presidency of the Council of Ministries. The themes and the questions that your Committee has entertained are of great importance for contemporary humanity, both as individuals and within the dimensions of relationships and society, beginning with families and including local and national communities, international communities and care for creation.
As we read in the book of Genesis, the Lord God took man and placed him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and to care for it (Gn 2:15). Culture, of which you are leading representatives in the field of science and technology, includes the idea of cultivation. It expresses the tensions of using human ingenuity to promote growth, flowering and fruitfulness of all that God has placed in the world. However, we cannot forget that the biblical text invites us also to care for the garden that is our world. As I wrote in the Encyclical Laudato Si', 'Tilling' refers to cultivating, ploughing or working, while 'keeping' means caring, protecting, overseeing and preserving. This implies a relationship of mutual responsibility between human beings and nature (LS, 67). Your task is not only to promote the harmonious development and integration of scientific and technological research that includes biological processes of plant, animal and human life; you are also asked to predict and prevent the negative consequences that can result in a distorted view of the knowledge and the capability to manipulate life.
Scientists, like thechologists, are called to know and to know how with increasing precision and creativity in the field of his competence and, at the same time, to make responsible decisions about the steps to be taken and in which situations we should pause and possibly take a different path. The principle of responsibility is an essential cornerstone of human action, for which he must answer for his own omissions before himself, others and ultimately before God. Technologies, even more than sciences, place in the hands of mankind an enormous and ever-growing amount of power. The grave risk is that citizens, and even those who represent them and govern them will not be fully aware of the seriousness of the challenges that arise, the complexity of the problems that need to be resolved, and the danger of misusing the power that science and technology place into our hands (cf Romano Guardini, The aim of the modern era, Brescia, 1987, pp. 80-81).
Then, when the interplay between technological and economic power are more closely aligned, interests can affect lifestyles and social trends in the direction of profit for certain industrial and commercial groups, to the detriment of poorer people and nations. It is not easy to reach a harmonious compromise between various scientific, productive, ethical, social, economical and political instances, promoting sustainable development that respects our common home. Such harmonious composition requires humility, courage and openness to comparison between various positions, in the surety that the testimony given by people of science to the truth and to the common good contributes to the maturing of social conscience.
At the conclusion of this reflection, allow me to recall the fact that science and technology are made for man and for the world, not man and the world for science and technology. They are at the service of a dignified and healthy life for all, in the present and in the future, and they make our common home more habitable and socially connected, more cared for and protected. Finally, I encourage the commitment of your Committee to initiate and to sustain processes of conscience between scientists, technologists, business people and representatives of various Institutions, and to identify strategies to enhance public awareness about public opinions concerning developments in the sciences of life and of various biotechnologies.
May the Lord bless each one of you, your families and your precious work. I assure you of my remembrance of each of you in my prayer and I rely on your prayers for me. Thank you!
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the meeting with the Italian National Committee
for Biosecurity, Biotechnology and Life Sciences
Illustrious ladies and gentlemen,
I cordially welcome each one of you and I thank your President, Professor Andrea Lenzi for the courteous words with which he has introduced our encounter. First of all, I wish to express my appreciation for the work that has been carried out by the National Committee for Biosecurity, Biotechnology and Life Sciences during the past 25 years within the Presidency of the Council of Ministries. The themes and the questions that your Committee has entertained are of great importance for contemporary humanity, both as individuals and within the dimensions of relationships and society, beginning with families and including local and national communities, international communities and care for creation.
As we read in the book of Genesis, the Lord God took man and placed him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and to care for it (Gn 2:15). Culture, of which you are leading representatives in the field of science and technology, includes the idea of cultivation. It expresses the tensions of using human ingenuity to promote growth, flowering and fruitfulness of all that God has placed in the world. However, we cannot forget that the biblical text invites us also to care for the garden that is our world. As I wrote in the Encyclical Laudato Si', 'Tilling' refers to cultivating, ploughing or working, while 'keeping' means caring, protecting, overseeing and preserving. This implies a relationship of mutual responsibility between human beings and nature (LS, 67). Your task is not only to promote the harmonious development and integration of scientific and technological research that includes biological processes of plant, animal and human life; you are also asked to predict and prevent the negative consequences that can result in a distorted view of the knowledge and the capability to manipulate life.
Scientists, like thechologists, are called to know and to know how with increasing precision and creativity in the field of his competence and, at the same time, to make responsible decisions about the steps to be taken and in which situations we should pause and possibly take a different path. The principle of responsibility is an essential cornerstone of human action, for which he must answer for his own omissions before himself, others and ultimately before God. Technologies, even more than sciences, place in the hands of mankind an enormous and ever-growing amount of power. The grave risk is that citizens, and even those who represent them and govern them will not be fully aware of the seriousness of the challenges that arise, the complexity of the problems that need to be resolved, and the danger of misusing the power that science and technology place into our hands (cf Romano Guardini, The aim of the modern era, Brescia, 1987, pp. 80-81).
Then, when the interplay between technological and economic power are more closely aligned, interests can affect lifestyles and social trends in the direction of profit for certain industrial and commercial groups, to the detriment of poorer people and nations. It is not easy to reach a harmonious compromise between various scientific, productive, ethical, social, economical and political instances, promoting sustainable development that respects our common home. Such harmonious composition requires humility, courage and openness to comparison between various positions, in the surety that the testimony given by people of science to the truth and to the common good contributes to the maturing of social conscience.
At the conclusion of this reflection, allow me to recall the fact that science and technology are made for man and for the world, not man and the world for science and technology. They are at the service of a dignified and healthy life for all, in the present and in the future, and they make our common home more habitable and socially connected, more cared for and protected. Finally, I encourage the commitment of your Committee to initiate and to sustain processes of conscience between scientists, technologists, business people and representatives of various Institutions, and to identify strategies to enhance public awareness about public opinions concerning developments in the sciences of life and of various biotechnologies.
May the Lord bless each one of you, your families and your precious work. I assure you of my remembrance of each of you in my prayer and I rely on your prayers for me. Thank you!
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