Comment on Italian Bishops message for the 25th Day for Life
Rome (Fides Service) - Rev. Gonzalo Miranda, president of the Institute of Bio-Ethics of the Pontifical University Regina Apostolorum in Rome, is a major expert in the field of bio-ethics. Rev. Miranda was kind enough to write an article for Fides Service on the occasion of the 25th Day for Life, Sunday 2 February, in Italy.
"After reading the message issued by the Italian Bishops for the 25th Day for Life in Italy, entitled "Della Vita no si fa Mercato" (Human life cannot be treated as merchandise) the first thing that came to mind was this: it is not so much life as such that we wish to protect, but rather human life. Life alone does not exist. Life is a living person. Every living person has an intrinsic dignity that cannot be exploited or used as merchandise. The Bishops' message refers to a growing tendency to use people, albeit sometimes for supposedly good purposes, for example therapeutic use of stem cells taken from human embryos. The problem lies in this tendency to exploit persons, including human embryos. This I think is the most important problem, a tendency to justify abuse. I think that one of the causes of this growing tendency is a loss of recognition of human dignity and respect for it. Much is said about human dignity but I think that our culture has a very narrow vision of the human person. Many see the person as an animal a grade higher than other animals, the last link in the chain of evolution. A superior animal, but an animal. People overlook the mystery of the human person, the spirit. Man is seen only as a material being, an animal. This bad fruit is the result of Secularisation as Pope John Paul II says in Evangelium Vitae encyclical (1995). When you deny the existence of God, you reduce the grandeur of mankind. It would appear to me that we have reached a sort of "law of the jungle" period in which everyone fends for himself and only the strongest survive. Today this "law of the jungle" could also be called "law of the market". The more you can pay, the more you obtain, to the detriment of others. This is the most serious crime: to justify abuse of human life. Last year the Institute of Bio-Ethics of the Pontifical University Regina Apostolorum offered a course on "The embryo the last frontier of human dignity". It appeared necessary to underline that humanity has made progress in rediscovering human dignity: the abolition of slavery, women's vote, rejection of racism etc. Now we must reach this last frontier: recognition of the unborn child, the embryo who has just begun to exist and we must recognise her or her dignity as a human person. This is the goal for which we must reach, as Catholic Church and as society. AP (Fides Service 31/1/2003)