VATICAN - The Pope addresses the plenary of the Pontifical Academy for Life: “Ever more emergent the inseparable bond between the procreation of a new person by means of conjugal union... This plan of the Creator is inscribed in the very physical and spiritual nature of man and woman and as such it is universally valid”

Vatican City (Fides Service) - On Saturday 21 February Pope John Paul II granted a special audience to participants at a plenary assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life. In his address the Holy Father began by mentioning that the Academy is marking the 10th anniversary of its foundation and then reflected on the plenary theme: “The Dignity of Human Procreation and Human Reproductive Technology: Anthropological and Moral Aspects ”.
“The theme you are discussing reveals itself to be charged with serious problems and implications which deserve careful attention - the Pope said -. At stake are values essential not only for the Christian believer but for the human being as such. Ever more emergent is the inseparable bond between the procreation of a new person with the conjugal union, through which the husband becomes father through conjugal union with his bride and the bride becomes mother through conjugal union with her husband. This plan of the Creator is inscribed in the very physical and spiritual nature of man and woman and as such it is universally valid”.



The Pope also said “the act with which husband and wife become mother and father through reciprocal self giving renders them co-operators with the Creator in bringing into the world a new human person called to eternal life. Such a meaningful act which transcends the very life of the parents cannot be replaced by a mere technological intervention, impoverished of human value and subject to determinism of technical and instrumental activity.”
In the second part of his address the Pope encouraged “scientific research to overcome sterility in married couples with natural means ” and he urged specialists “to develop interventions useful for this purpose”. He said the Pontifical Academy for Life should support “every valid initiative to prevent dangerous manipulation which come with processes of artificial procreation” while Catholics as a community should “support authentic paths of research, resisting at moments of decision-making suggestions to substitute technology for genuine parenthood and thereby harm the dignity of both parents and children.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 23/2/2004 - Righe 25; Parole 356)