Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Ljubljana (Fides Agency) - From June 3rd to 6th, 2004, the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Slovenian Academy of Science have organised an Interdisciplinary Meeting on science and faith, titled Ethical Responsibility in the World in Transformation.
The Convention is divided into four sections. The first, Science, Faith and Society, analyses the role the three elements play in social life. The second, Science and Values, the Value of Science, considers the ethical implications of scientific research, especially in delicate areas such as biomedical research. The third part is on the Unity of Conscience and Ethics, Multi-Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Dimensions, in an integrated approach to knowledge that John Paul II called the wise dimension of science. The last part of the Convention shall be on Culture’s New Horizons.
In his opening speech, Cardinal Paul Poupard, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, drew a map of the changes, which occurred in the world, especially in the last twenty years in Europe. Science played an important role in those transformations, and he considered the ethical dimensions of science.
To help and build this alliance between science and conscience, the Catholic Church shed some light on events that spoiled relations between science and the Church in the past, through committees such as the Committee for the study of the Galileo Case, presided over by Cardinal Poupard himself. Presently, the Pontifical Council for Culture is promoting an STOQ Project, an initiative for the formation of competent personnel in the area of dialogue between science and faith, which is based in three roman universities. (AP) (3/6/2004 Fides Agency; lines:26; words:289)
