Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - “Christian conscience supports the right to life” is the theme of the 13th general assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life PAV to be held 23-24 February in the Vatican.
The Assembly was presented on 20 February by PAV president Bishop Elio Sgreccia, Bishop Anthony Fischer, auxiliary Bishop of Sydney archdiocese and professor of bioethics, PAV vice president Mgr Jean Lafitte and Professor Mónica Lopez Barahona, biologist, director of the Insitute of Bioethics at San Francisco de Vitoria University in Madrid.
The great interest for the issues to be discussed, objection of conscience for Catholic researchers, euthanasia, research on embryo stem cells, abortion, has drawn participants from many different countries. Interventions will be given by theologians, bishops, doctors and jurists.
In his presentation Bishop Sgreccia said the Assembly would indicate “the foundation, specificity and duties of a conscience, illuminated by the faith, but aware of the necessity to dialogue with the secular and pluralist world of cultures”.
“Chemical abortion, stem cell research implicating killing of embryos and other form of violation of life, are areas in which a Christian must be able to avail him or herself of religious conscientious objection” Mgr Sgreccia said. “In the presence of legislation which legalises euthanasia, Catholic health workers have an obligation to have recourse to religious objection of conscience. The obligation does not necessarily require a public statement, a fact which depends on the law in question. With regard to legislation on abortion, a Catholic health worker is obliged to refuse to perform an act which the Church considers unlawful. It depends on national laws if this refusal must be previously officially communicated”. “A Catholic conscience must be authentic, upright and mature, conditions which cannot be taken for granted, they are the result of reflection, dialogue and research often arduous”.
Bishop Fisher explained that in his intervention at the Meeting he would address the question of « what conscience is and is not, and what authority conscience has. I note that a common but faulty view is that, like a satellite navigator, conscience gives us directions from outside our own moral reasoning. The classical Christian conception of conscience is of the natural perception of basic moral principles, their application in particular circumstances, and the final judgment about what is to be (or has been) done. ” He warned however “Without shared objective principles, ‘conscientious’ belief becomes window-dressing for the raw expression of preference or power.”
“But conscience must be both well-informed and well-formed if it is to be a reliable guide to action » said Bishop Fisher recalling “the authority of the Church as a moral teacher and former/informer of conscience”.
For his part Mgr Jean Lafitte dwelt on the new concept of ideological tolerance which in fact rejects solely the point of view which respects the dignity of the human person.
The last to speak was professor Barahona, after listing series of problems connected with the human genome she said researchers often find themselves in situations which call for objection of conscience.(AP) (21/2/2007 Agenzia Fides; Righe:45; Parole: 541)
