VATICAN - Pope Benedict addresses Inter-Academic Colloquium participants: “in our epoch it is more than ever important to educate consciences of men and women so that science does not become a criteria for what is good and the person is respected as the centre of creation ”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “It is important to give voice to anthropological, philosophical and theological research which allows man to appear and remain in his mystery because no science can say who man is, from whence he comes and where he is bound. Science of man becomes therefore the most necessary of all sciences”. Pope Benedict XVI said this in his address to members of the Pontifical Academies for Sciences and Social Sciences, the Academies of Social Sciences, the Academies of Science and of Moral and Political Sciences and the Catholic Institute of Paris on the occasion of the 1st jointly organised Colloquium on the theme “the changing identity of the individual”.
Citing the Encyclical Fides et ratio, Benedict XVI said “man is more than what can be seen or experienced about him”, therefore “to neglect the question with regard to the being of man leads inevitably to refusal to seek the objective truth about the human being in his integrity, and so, inability to recognise the foundation of the dignity of the person, every person, from the embryonic stage to natural death”. The Pope recalled that during the Colloquium it emerged that “sciences, philosophy and theology can help one another to perceive the identity of man which is always being and becoming”, highlighting certain fundamental elements of his mystery, “characterised by otherness: being created by God, being in the image of God, being loved and created to love”.
The Holy Father said “man is not the fruit of chance, or convergence, determinism or psycho-chemical interaction; he is a being gifted with freedom which, while considering his nature, transcends him and is a sign of the mystery of otherness which lives within him”. This freedom allows man to direct his life towards a goal and “demonstrates that human life has meaning. By exercising his authentic freedom the person fulfils his vocation; achieves self realisation and forms his deepest identity. Using his freedom he also exercises responsibility for his actions. In this sense the special dignity of the human person is both a gift of God and a promise for the future ”.
The Creator gave man the ability to discern what is good and right; he is called to develop his conscience on the basis of natural and moral law through formation and exercise. “In our epoch, in which scientific development attracts and seduces with the possibilities it offers, it is more than ever important to educate the consciences of men and women, so that science does not become a criteria for what is good and the human person is respected as the centre of creation rather than the object of ideological manipulation, or arbitrary decisions or abuses on the part the strong over the weak. Dangers of which we have seen signs in human history, especially during the 20th century”.
Lastly the Holy Father said “any form of scientific practice must also be a practice of love, called to put itself at the service of the individual and of humanity and to offer its contribution to forming the identity of individuals … the example of love par excellence is Christ. It is in the act of giving his life for others, of giving his whole self, that his deepest identity is revealed and we find to key to the fathomless mystery of his being and his mission”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 29/1/2008; righe 39, parole 577)