| Vatican City (Fides Service) - “With joy I address this Message to you on the commemoration day for the 10th anniversary of the Pontifical Academy for Life. To each of you I renew the expression of my gratitude for the qualified service offered by the Academy for the diffusion of the "Gospel of Life"… With you I thank first of all the Lord for your providential Institution which ten years ago was added to others created since the Council.” With these words Pope John Paul II began a Message addressed to the members of the Pontifical Academy for Life on the occasion of a Day of Commemoration on the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Academy.
In the Message the Holy Father says “As the years pass the importance of the Pontifical Academy for Peace is ever more evident. While progress in bio-medical science offer glimpses of promising prospects for the good of humanity and treatment for serious and distressful illnesses not rarely serious problems arise with regard to respect for human life and the dignity of the human person. Increasing dominion of medical technology over the processes of human procreation, discoveries in the field of genetics and molecule biology, changes in the therapeutic management of seriously ill patients, together with the spread of currents of thought inspired by utilitarian and hedonistic attitudes are factors which can lead to abhorrent behaviour as well as the drafting of unjust laws regarding the dignity of the human person and the respect demanded by the inviolability of innocent life.”
Pope John Paul II recalled the “valid” contribution which the Pontifical Academy offers intellectuals, especially Catholics and he voiced gratitude to its members for their “efforts to examine certain specific matters of great interest and to foster dialogue between scientific investigations and philosophical and theological reflection guided by the Magisterium. It is necessary to increase awareness among researchers, especially those in the bio-medical with regard too the beneficial enrichment which can come from combining scientific rigor with the instances of Christian anthropology and ethics” the Pope wrote.
The Message concluded with the wish that this service which has now existed for ten years may continue in the future, “producing the hoped-for fruits in the field of rendering bio-medical science more human and in the encounter between scientific research and faith.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 20/2/2004; Righe 28; Parole 354)
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