To the
members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
THE BEGINNING, SUBJECT AND GOAL
OF ALL SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
28 October 1994
Address originally given in French.
Your Excellencies,
Monsignors,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
1.It is a great joy for me to meet
you at the annual plenary session of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. I
extend to each of you my respectful and cordial greetings and assure you once
again of my interest in and esteem for your work in the Academy.
At the beginning of our meeting, I
would like first of all to honour the memory of the
seven illustrious members of your assembly who died last year. I pray that the
Lord may grant them their eternal reward. I hope that their contributions to
the Academy's work will continue to be reference points and an invitation to
pursue tirelessly your research in service to truth and to our brothers and
sisters, for truth is the basis of human dignity (cf. Veritatis splendor, n. 63).
2.Your plenary session is the occasion
when you announce the appointment of the new academicians who are called to
take part in the life of the Academy because of their abilities and widely
recognized achievements. I am pleased to acknowledge their nomination, which
stresses the international dimension of your assembly and its openness to new
scientific disciplines. It enables you to be more in touch with the constant
progress of science and technology on all the continents, since the questions
that our society is facing increasingly need to be illumined by the sciences,
which are one of the prized resources of our constantly evolving and changing
world.
However, at the same time, one
should not lose sight of the fact that science alone cannot claim to account
for the transcendent origin and ultimate purpose of human existence; every
researcher is asked to take into consideration the metaphysical and moral
questions that become even more pressing when the certitude obtained by science
is seen in relation to the whole truth about man.
Significant advances in genetic research
3.On the agenda for this session, as
at your previous meetings, you have given an important place to the question of
the human genome, a critical issue for the future of individuals and humanity.
I appreciate the fact that, in addressing this question, you are making every
effort to offer an analysis to our contemporaries that combines, without
contradiction, scientific findings and the integral truth about what man
objectively is.
The gradual discovery of the genetic
map and the increasingly detailed knowledge of genome sequencing, research that
will take several more years, are an advance in scientific knowledge which
first of all causes justifiable wonder, particularly with regard to the
reconstruction of the DNA chain, the chemical basis of genes and chromosomes.
It now seems an accepted fact that for all living species including man, DNA is
the vehicle for hereditary characteristics and their transmission to successive
generations. The multiple consequences for man, which cannot be totally
discerned yet, hold great promise. In fact, in the not-too-distant future, we
can reasonably foresee that the whole genome sequencing will open new paths of
research for therapeutic purposes. Thus the sick, to whom it was impossible to
give proper treatment due to frequently fatal hereditary pathologies, will be
able to benefit from the treatment needed to improve their condition and
possibly to cure them. By acting on the subject's unhealthy genes, it will also
be possible to prevent the recurrence of genetic diseases and their
transmission.
Genome research will enable man to
understand himself to an unprecedented degree. In particular, it will be
possible to perceive genetic influences more clearly and to distinguish them
from those stemming from the natural and cultural surroundings and those
associated with the individual's own experience. In addition, by shedding light
on the web of influences within which man exercises his freedom, we will arrive
at a clearer understanding of this mysterious reality.
Some, perhaps, will be tempted to
seek a purely scientific explanation of human freedom, and to consider this
sufficient. Such an explanation would negate what it seeks to explain and would
clash with the personal and irrefutable evidence that our inner self cannot be
reduced to the influences to which it may be subject, but that it ultimately
remains the sole author of our decisions.
Scientific progress such as that
involving the genome is a credit to human reason, for man is called to be lord
of creation, and it honours the Creator, source of
all life, who entrusted the human race with stewardship over the world.
Discoveries of the complexity of the molecular structure can invite members of
the scientific community, and more broadly, all our contemporaries, to wonder
about the First Cause, about the One who is the origin of all existence and who
has secretly fashioned each one of us (cf. Ps 139:15; Prv
24:12).
Research results should be available to whole
community
4.As regards interventions in the
human genome sequencing, it would be appropriate to recall certain basic moral
norms. All interference in the genome should be done in a way that absolutely
respects the specific nature of the human species, the transcendental vocation of
every being and his incomparable dignity. The genome represents the biological
identity of each subject: furthermore, it expresses a part of the human
condition of the being desired by God for his own sake through the mission
entrusted to his parents.
The ability to establish the genetic
map should not lead to reducing the subject to his genetic inheritance and to
the alterations that can be made to it. In his mystery, man goes beyond the sum
of his biological characteristics. He is a fundamental unit, in which the
biological cannot be separated from the spiritual, family and social dimensions
without incurring the serious risk of suppressing the person's very nature and
making him a mere object of analysis. By his nature and uniqueness, the human
person is the norm for all scientific research. "He is and he ought to be
the beginning, the subject and the object" of all research (Second Vatican
Council, Gaudium et spes, n.
25).
On this subject, we rejoice that
numerous researchers have refused to allow discoveries made about the genome to
be patented. Since the human body is not an object that can be disposed of at
will, the results of research should be made available to the whole scientific
community and cannot be the property of a small group.
Ethical reflection should also focus
on the use of a person's medical data, especially information contained in the
genome that could be exploited by society to the detriment of individuals, for
example, by destroying embryos with chromosome abnormalities or by marginalizing
those affected by one or other genetic disease; nor can a person's biological
privacy be violated or investigated without his explicit consent, nor divulged
for uses which would not be of a strictly medical nature or for the therapeutic
benefit of the person concerned. Independently of the biological, cultural,
social or religious differences that distinguish human beings, each individual
has a natural right to be what he is and to have sole responsibility for his
genetic inheritance.
5.Nevertheless, we must not allow
ourselves to be beguiled by the myth of progress, as though the possibility of
conducting research or of applying a technique would immediately qualify them
as morally good.
The moral goodness of all progress
is measured by its genuine benefit to man, considered in relation to its
twofold corporal and spiritual dimension, as a result, justice is done to what
man is; if the good were not linked to man, who must be its beneficiary, it
might be feared that humanity were heading for its own destruction. The
scientific community is ceaselessly called to keep the factors in order,
situating scientific aspects within the framework of an integral humanism; in
this way it will take into account the metaphysical ethical, social and
juridical questions that conscience faces and which the principles of reason
can clarify.
I am pleased that in the programme for your present session you are concerned, as
scientists, to put your knowledge at the service of moral truth, reflecting on
the ethical implications and legal arrangements which should be proposed to
governments and scientific teams. It is to be hoped that your authoritative
voice my contribute to formulating an international consensus in so sensitive
an area, a consensus based on the objective truth about man learned from right
reason. On this basis, we must hope that the institutions concerned will
encourage thorough reflection, so that each country may equip itself with
regulations that will protect the human person and his genetic inheritance,
while promoting basic research and research applied to the health of
individuals.
Work of ethics committees to be encouraged
6.It is not because of a specific
scientific competence that the Magisterium is
concerned with the areas which are the subject of your research. The very
existence of the Academy is proof that the Church respects the autonomy of
scientific disciplines. Furthermore, "Far from considering the conquests
of man's genius and courage as opposed to God's power [ ] Christians ought to be convinced
that the achievements of the human race are a sign of God's greatness and the fulfilment of his mysterious plan" (Second Vatican
Council, Gaudium et spes, n.
34). The Church intervenes only by virtue of her Gospel mission; she has the
duty to bring the light of Revelation to human reason, to defend man and to
watch over "his dignity as a person who is endowed with a spiritual soul
and with moral responsibility and who is called to beatific communion with
God" (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Donum vitae, n. 1).
Since the human being is the issue,
the problems go beyond the area of science, which cannot take account the
transcendence of the subject nor lay down moral norms deriving from the
subject's central place and primordial dignity in the universe. In this spirit,
the work of ethics committees is to be encouraged in order to help science
evaluate the moral aspects of research and to establish ethical conditions.
7.The topics you are discussing
include that of alternative energy sources for developing countries, which is a
theme of great importance for humanity's future and is being considered at a
time when demographic issues are the subject of serious debate. To foster the
world's economic vitality, it is important to take stock of realistic solutions
to replace current resources, which risk one day being depleted. The present
generation more than any other has the responsibility and the duty not to
uselessly squander its energy resources. Decisions in this area should also keep
future generations in mind. Our planet's energy resources are riches that
should enable all peoples to develop and to possess the material means for a
dignified life, by avoiding the creation of economic and ecological imbalances.
These resources must not be exploited by a small number of countries to the
detriment of others. Goods on the surface of our planet are unequally
distributed. Solidarity and sharing are indispensable for creating a fair
relationship between producer and consumer countries.
8.Together with the notion of
"mathematical certainty", research undertaken on "basic
mathematical principles" has led to reconsidering the epistemological
methods mathematicians employ in order to respect the demands of their science
such as clarity, consistency, intellectual integrity and trust in man's
rational capacities. This reflection has created the key concept of
"artificial intelligence". However it should be remembered that
machines are but an instrument at man's service. Their "intelligence"
is limited, for they do not possess reason in the full sense of the term, the
reason that enables man to think like a creature, to comprehend the good, the
true and the beautiful, to direct his life and to proceed towards his end by
voluntary action.
On this topic you have recalled the
importance of studying the correlation between the human brain and the
electronic systems in the field of neuroscience, so that machines may
compensate for a certain number of human deficiencies and improve the quality
of life for the handicapped. It is the greatness of science to be especially at
the service of our brothers and sisters who are most in need of aid in order to
lead a life that corresponds to their nature and their incomparable dignity.
9.As we approach the 60th
anniversary of the refoundation of this illustrious
institution by Pius XI, it can be asserted that it fulfils the functions which
were assigned to the scientists: appointed on the basis of their competence,
without ethnic or religious discrimination, they are called to act freely. With
concern for greater effectiveness, you have revised your internal regulations,
in order to fulfil more satisfactorily the role
expressed in your statutes: participation in scientific progress and a further
development of the nature of scientific knowledge.
At the end of our meeting, I would
like to thank you for your contributions to the Holy See on new and important
issues that call for deeper knowledge. In the tremendous progress of the
contemporary world, it is the whole community's task to be particularly careful
to promote an integral humanism. At stake is the very meaning of man. I entrust
to the Most High your efforts and your research, which are always open to the
demands of this humanism.