Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) - On Tuesday, April 1, a group of researchers in genetics met in the “Bambino Gesu” Children’s Hospital in Rome, to present and discuss some of the cases that have shown the positive results of a close collaboration between science and bioethics. The encounter, organized by the Association of Italian Catholic Medical Doctors, has undoubtedly addressed an extremely pertinent theme for our times: genetics and its relationship with science and hope.
The workshop began with words of greeting from Professor Giuseppe Profiti, President of “Bambino Gesu” Hospital, who stressed the importance of not only an ethical approach to the patient, but most importantly, a psychological one. In caring for a patient, one should not ignore the personal and interior aspect of his person. “In a hospital of the Third Millenium, as Bambino Gesu Hospital aspires to be, research is continually making progress,” the President said, “and it is a source of enrichment for both the hospital and each individual patient.” The close relationship between the most prestigious children’s hospital and the Association of Catholic Medical Doctors has been fostered in an effort to offer a model for lay health personnel that is “humanizing.”
Hope, which has been the key word in the encounter, came up in the talk given by Dr. Paola Rosati, member of the Pediatrics Department, Vice-President of the Association for Catholic Medical Doctors (AMCI) in Rome, and organizer of the event. She used Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Spe Salvi as her main reference in the talk, presenting genetics as the hope of something that can be molded or worked upon and stressed the importance of educating personnel in the vital and necessary relationship of participation that should be established between doctors and patients. Genetic research needs both the work of the researcher and the public that is implied.
With Biblical and literary quotes from Manzoni to Ratzinger, with a bit of Péguy and “The Little Prince” in between, Monsignor Fortunato Frezza, Bible Scholar, Undersecretary for the Synod of Bishops, and Assistant of the AMCI in Rome, gave a talk on children’s health, describing it as a five-part mosaic: hope in life, hope of life, hope of science, science and hope, growing in hope. The child is a “nucleus” of man, in that all that is characteristic of man is present already in a newborn baby. In addressing the currently controversial topic of the resuscitation of prematurely born babies, Monsignor Frezza said that “we cannot deny hope to someone who desperately pleas for it.” Following the reflections on genetics and man in the 21st century, led by Professor Bruno Dallapiccola, expert geneticist, the conference concluded with a presentation of four examples of diseases that without the help of genetics would not be capable of being treated today. (PC) (Agenzia Fides 2/4/2008; righe 36, parole 461)
