Father John Leies, SM

    On Jan. 31, Pope Benedict XVI met with Cardinal William Levada and his associates in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the congregation headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he was elected pope. It was a business meeting at which Cardinal Levada gave a report to the pontiff on the topics reviewed during the past year by the congregation and on topics that were still under consideration. The pope used the occasion to make some remarks of his own.

    Pope Benedict first commented on the doctrinal clarification concerning the role of the church made in two documents from the congregation. The one document (“Response to Some Questions”) stated again the teaching that the fullness of Christ’s church subsists in the Catholic Church and that the essential unity of the church is not invalidated by various separations and divisions among Christians. The second document (“Doctrinal Note on Aspects of Evangelization”), said the pope, reiterated the truth that in a world marked by inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue, the church still needs to continue her evangelizing and missionary efforts. The Catholic Church recognizes elements of truth and good in other religions. Yet this should not be a deterrent to the church’s continued efforts at preaching Christ as the way, the truth and the life.

    But what attracted my attention in this talk of the Holy Father was this request, “I ask you to pay special attention to the difficult and complex issues of bioethics.” This was an invitation to Cardinal Levada and the other members of the congregation to respond to the many developments taking place in the fields of medicine and medical research. The pope noted, as so many others have, the research being done is broadcast immediately through the media to the world. This gives rise to expectations which many times cannot be met and to questions which cannot be answered, at least not right away. But the role of the church is to continue reaffirming the basic values and principles from which moral judgments can be made.

    Pope Benedict noted the two basic criteria for judging the morality of scientific developments: 1) unconditional respect for the human person, from conception to natural death; and 2) respect for the transmission of human through acts which are proper to married couples. There is a world of wisdom in these words. Yet many scholars continue to criticize the church as being an obstacle to science. The secular scientist often believes that he can operate in a moral vacuum and that the only question to ask is whether a project can be done not whether it should be done. The secular scientist then becomes the obstacle to true progress. (The pope did not say this, but he implied it.) The pope reminded the congregation of some of the problems which have arisen in bioethics: freezing of embryos, selective abortion of implanted embryos, research on embryonic stem cells, attempts at human cloning, other artificial fertilization attempts.

    “The barrier that served to protect human dignity has been violated” are the pope’s ominous words. Human beings in their weakest and most defenseless stage of life are selected and killed and used as mere “biological material.”

    This is to make them into “something” not “someone” and call into question the basic dignity of human life.
Toward the end of his talk, the pope wrote of his appreciation for the many ways that biomedical sciences have given benefits to the world, such as, through adult stem-cell research, which has produced multiple cures of people from various problems. (A list of some 80 cures has already been compiled.) There are also the attempts that have been made — through legitimate means — to restore fertility and to cure genetic diseases, notes the Holy Father.
    I am convinced that the 21st century will go down in history as the “age of biomedicine.”

    And so it is reassuring to hear the Holy Father encourage the Congregation for the Faith to focus on this field, to keep giving guidance based not on relativistic principles but on eternal verities.