Eminences, Excellencies,\nEsteemed Members, Ladies and Gentlemen,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today we begin our Annual\nMeeting and at the same time we celebrate the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the\nfoundation of our Academy, established on February 11, 1994 by Saint John Paul\nII, who was encouraged and inspired by the Servant of God J\u00e9r\u00f4me Lejeune. Thank you, Madame Lejeune, for your presence\nhere today that testifies to us the greatness of these two worthy servants of\nhuman life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saint John Paul II, in the\nMotu Proprio <\/em>by which he created the Academy, wrote: \u201cThe mystery of\nlife, and of human life in particular, is attracting the increased attention of\nexperts who are drawn by the extraordinary opportunities for investigation that\nscientific and technological advances offer their research today. While this\nnew situation opens fascinating horizons for intervention at the sources of\nlife itself, it also gives rise to a variety of new moral questions that man\ncannot ignore without the risk of taking steps that could prove irreversible.\u201d <\/em>Today,\ntwenty-five years later, these words are even more urgent and decisive. Human life is truly a mystery, a promising\nand irreducible reality, never definitively codifiable and always a source of\nrevelation; at the same time, technology and science have achieved a\nfascinating effectiveness and a pervasiveness that, together, fascinate and\nworry. Ethical questions, connected and\ncentered within a broader anthropological reflection, are today more urgent\nthan ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pope Francis, in the\nreform of the Academy he carried out in 2016 and later in the Letter Humana\nCommunitas <\/em>that he wanted to write to us on this Anniversary, confirms the\nintuition of his predecessor, and gives new impetus to our work. To his thanks for the Academy\u2019s twenty-five\nyears of activity I add my own, which I offer first to the several Presidents who\nhave succeeded one another in leading this scientific body\u2014Professor Correa,\nCardinal Sgreccia, Archbishop Fisichella and Bishop Carrasco\u2014and to all the\nMembers, the Chancellors, the Staff and the many friends who have given\nstrength and content to our history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pope Francis, in the title\nof the Letter addressed to the Academy, Humana Communitas<\/em>, indicates the\nhorizon along which to exercise our commitment. \nWith the Encyclical Laudato si\u2019<\/em> Pope Francis has called everyone\nto care for creation as a \u201ccommon home.\u201d \nIt is a courageous and urgent appeal that gives everyone the\nresponsibility for facing the ecological and social challenges that put the\nfuture of the planet at risk. Today, as\nin a diptych, renewed attention is increasingly asked of those who live in that\nhome, that is, of the whole human family. \nIn fact, the question addresses not only the naturalistic aspect of the\nenvironment but also the social dimension of the human community. We cannot\nfail to call to mind the epochal first page of the Bible, perhaps unique in\nhuman history, when \u201ccreation\u201d was made part of God\u2019s covenant with man and\nwoman, that is to say with the whole the human family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The horizon that the Pope\nopens to the Academy for Life seems to me an invitation to a deep understanding\nof the meaning of \u201cLife,\u201d in the fulness of its real and semantic unity. \u201cLife\u201d is not an abstract universal concept:\nit is the human person in his history and in his relationships; it is the whole\nhuman family understood as a subject that dwells in creation; it is humanity\nbeing responsible for, and caring for, the quality of life. The Pope is concerned with the ethical,\npolitical, and spiritual weakening of the bonds that create brotherhood, based\nabove all on the mutual and friendly recognition of a common origin, of a\ncommon condition, of a common destiny, \u201cWe should keep in mind that\nfraternity remains the unkept promise of modernity. The universal spirit of\nfraternity that grows by mutual trust\u2013within modern civil society and between\npeoples and nations\u2013appears much weakened. The strengthening of fraternity,\ngenerated in the human family by the worship of God in spirit and truth, is the\nnew frontier of Christianity.\u201d<\/em> It is\na challenge that affects the entire planet and therefore the entire human community. The weakening of brotherhood – whether we\nlike it or not – contaminates all the sciences of man and of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Human life, understandable\nonly in the context of its historical and concrete relationships, which\npreserve it from every sterile and reductive ideological interpretation, also\nneeds a global view: vigilance at the\nbeginning of human life must be ever more attentive, precisely because it is\nalways more exposed to the throw-away culture that technological advances make all\ntoo easy; and for the same reason we cannot lower our ethical guard over that\npassage to eternal life that we all must experience. These are crucial moments where the dignity\nof every human person is seriously at risk. \nIf life is not guarded and loved in its arrival and departure, it\ncertainly will not be recognized in the concrete circumstances it encounters\nalong its way, in which the love that makes us worthy of God\u2019s promise is\nrepeatedly tested. Precisely for this\nreason, twenty-five years after the foundation of the Academy, we are asked to\ncultivate life at every stage, taking into consideration its continuity and the\nbreadth of the risks it runs throughout the years of every man and every\nwoman. There is no room for any\nideological reductionism regarding the consistency of this wider vision with\nthe fundamental inspiration of the mission given to our Academy at its\nfounding. The attention given to the\ndifferent ages of life and to the contexts where they unfold is therefore\ncrucial: the pervasiveness of a\nutilitarian and technocratic mentality – that picks and chooses without\nconscience – that works against the acceptance of and respect for weak and\nwounded human life, produces widespread moral uncertainty and psychological\nvulnerability, weakening all the social bonds to which the dignity of and\nrespect for life are naturally entrusted. \nThe horizon offered by Global Bioethics shows, precisely in this\nperspective, the relevance and fruitfulness of its approach. The Proceedings of our Meeting last year, which\nwas dedicated specifically to this issue, have just arrived from the printers\nand I will present them to you with great pleasure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fascinating but\nworrisome impact that technology has today have on the understanding of human\nlife in its concrete forms\u2014Pope Francis speaks of the appearance of new\n\u201cconvergent technologies\u201d as needing ethical consideration worldwide\u2014will find\nin the many initiatives planned for the two-year period 2019-2020, an area for\nstudy that justifies rigorous analysis and passionate commitment. This year\u2019s Meeting, dedicated to the ethical\nquestions surrounding \u201crobotics,\u201d together with next year\u2019s that will be deal\nwith artificial intelligence are the two main mileposts on a longer road, which\nwe already know will lead to cooperation with other important bodies as a\nresult of the interest that the Academy has aroused in these subjects. In this context, let me mention the recent\nmeeting we organized between the Holy Father and Brad Smith, President of\nMicrosoft, who is deeply interested in the anthropological implications of new\ntechnologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The task entrusted by the\nPope to the Academy has at least a threefold methodological aspect. First, the Catholic Church does not look at\nscientific research simply as a \u201ccontemporary and effective\u201d tool to find proof\nof the Gospel message and its ethical implications. Scientific investigation, when it is\ndedicated to the dispassionate search for the truth, is always to be supported\nand admired, even when it asks questions and raises doubts that challenge the\nfaith in a new way and using original expressions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, the passionate and\nfree study of man and his world is, in fact, always an investigation into the\nwork of God and His plan. This is the\nscience that we promote, and we welcome all those whose lives are dedicated to\nresearch with passion and generosity. We\nare convinced that the progress of scientific endeavor is a benefit for\nanthropological and, above all, theological reflection. Open dialogue and rational investigation are\nthe tack that the most genuine theology has always taken, overcoming the\ntemptation to set up an insurmountable barrier and principled opposition\nbetween the intellectual resources present in the cultures of various epochs\nand that intelligence which is dedicated to the understanding and communication\nof the faith. Only in respectful and\nhonest dialogue with the contemporary world can there be a genuine deepening of\nthe experience of faith and an ethical reflection that is not limited to\ndeductive repetition of obsolete syllogisms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Third, the Pope urges the\nAcademy to enter the territories of science and technology and to explore them\nwith boldness and creativity, wisdom and discernment. This means refusing to deduce prefabricated\nanswers from a preconceived theory. \nFirst of all, listen attentively to phenomena in their complexity to\nunderstand how new discoveries of science and technology affect our\nhumanity. Formulate criteria of\ninterpretation and evaluation that produce viable information for the benefit\nof the dignity of every person and of all the populations that inhabit the\nplanet. This activity involves the\ndevelopment of a moral conscience that doesn\u2019t limit itself to the drafting of\nrules of comportment but rather makes itself able to gather consciences around\nresponsible action. Its appeal must be\naddressed to the sensitivity of the person (the \u201cheart\u201d of which the Gospel\nspeaks), to the responsibility of the people (the \u201ccloseness\u201d of which the\nGospel speaks), in which the ethical dimension and the spiritual quality of\nlife are born and grow together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dear friends, by being\nopen to these themes and perspectives, which call for our commitment and our\ndrive directed toward the future, the Academy celebrates its Twenty-Fifth\nAnniversary. We are as old as a mature\nyoung adult. We are at an age that does\nnot run away from the burdens of responsibility, that accepts generously the\ntrials of history, and is ready to take on the happy task of generating,\nwatching over and renewing the whole world. \nToday we give thanks to God for this history and these tasks. For the future that has been entrusted to us,\nwe rely on our common commitment. Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n