Each Pontificate is
marked by those events which, during that time, have posed questions
to the Church and by the answers which the Church, through the voice
of its Supreme Shepherd, has offered following the Gospel and the
salvific mission which the Lord Jesus keeps carrying out within
humanity.
The Pontificate of
John Paul II, among many historical developments, has constantly
considered the events which all together marked the last part of the
past century and which, in all evidence, will continue to influence
the centuries to come. I am referring to the great breakthroughs
achieved by the progress of science, above all in the field of
biomedicine. These breakthroughs have raised many hopes for the
well-being of humanity, but at times the have also raised new and
disturbing ethical problems.
In this field, two
coordinates have guided the Magisterium of the Pope: the dignity of
the human person redeemed by Christ and the salvific value of human
suffering.
The first
coordinate has been expounded in the Encyclical "Redemptor Hominis"
(1979), published in the year following His election (16 October
1978). An anthropology founded on Christology, which does not
reject but rather enlightens human reason and the conquests of
science, has in fact been the beacon to which the Pope's teachings
have turned, with reference to the following themes: sexuality and the
family; natural and artificial procreation; the bold and adventurous
frontier of human cloning and the use of stem cells; organ
transplants; the perspectives opened up by genetic engineering and
gene therapy.
The Holy Father
has spoken and written on these issues on many occasions. He has
delivered speeches - for example, during the Wednesday catecheses on
married sexuality, or during the Cairo Conference - and He has
gathered His written teachings on human life, for example in the
Encyclical "Evangelium Vitae" (1995). In other circumstances,
moreover, He has countersigned Documents prepared by the Dicasteries
of the Holy See, such as, for example, the Instruction "Donum Vitae"
(Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - 1987), on the defence of
the human embryo and his right to life, and on the dignity of human
procreation compared to artificial insemination techniques.
Among the
Organized Bodies which have brought the views of the Pope's Magisterium into the world, there are those which the Pope Himself
instituted ad hoc, namely, the Pontifical Council for the
Family (1981), the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care (1985),
and the Pontifical Academy for Life (1994).
The second line of thought
developed by John Paul II concerns the issue of suffering.
We must recall His
Encyclical "Salvifici Doloris" (1984), which offers a complete
theology of suffering (although some people, at the time when the
document was issued, considered its central theme as being "cut off"
from the social and cultural context of the time). Its contents have
been constantly enriched by the annual messages for the World Day of
the Sick in the course of the past 12 years.
In the reflections
of the Pope, the figure of Christus medicus counterpoints that
of Christus patiens, so as to define the medical profession as
a humanitarian and Christian mission of high value, and to re-define
hospitals as "sanctuaries" rather than "firms".
But the Chair on human
suffering was magisterially held by His Holiness through the example
of His personal witness as well, since the day of the attempt on His
life (13 May 1981), with firm perseverance as He directly participated
in completing what is missing from Christ's sufferings on behalf of
His Church (Col 1,24).
It is thanks to the World
Federation of Catholic Medical Associations, and it is a true gift for
us, that these two lines of reflection have been gathered in one agile
tool of reference, this Compact Disk. The CD, in fact, reports the
teachings pronounced, written and lived by His Holiness as nourishment
for the whole Ecclesiastical Community; it is especially useful for
the training of doctors, health care workers and their Pastors.
This tool not only allows you
to know the thought of the Church on relevant individual issues in the
fields of health care and bioethics; by using it, it is also possible
and easy to draw from such an abundant source for training and
meditation. It allows you to constantly refer to those values which
must be lived by the side of the sick and in research laboratories. In
referring to them, science may keep being faithful to the true needs
of humanity, its origin and ultimate aim, and institutions and people
may stand by those who, while experiencing suffering and illness, are
looking for comfort and hope.
I believe this CD can be an
excellent tool for the spread of the Holy Father's teachings, and an
irrigation canal and a source of nourishment for those who work daily
in the field and in frontier situations.
+Elio Sgreccia
Titular Bishop of Zama minor
Vice-President of the Pontifical Academy for
Life
