“The love of Christ urges us (cfr 2 Cor. 5,14) to become servants of the small ones and the elderly, of every man and every woman, through which the primordial right to life is recognized and protected,” he said. “The existence of the human person, to which you dedicate your care is also your constitutive principle, it is life in its unfathomable depth that originates and accompanies the whole scientific path; it is the miracle of life that undermines any form of scientific presumption, restoring primacy to wonder and beauty.”
“Christ,” Francis highlighted, “illuminates the path so that science may always be a service of life.”
He encouraged them to stay focused on the fact that every human person is sacred, “so that science may truly be at the service of man, and not man at the service of science.”
The Pontiff undercored to those present that attacks on the sacredness of life — in all their various manifestations — must not be forgotten.
“The scourge of abortion is an attack on life. Leaving our brothers on the boats in the Sicilian channel is an attack on life. Death in the workplace because the minimal security conditions are not respected, is an attack on life. Death by malnutrition is an attack on life. Terrorism, war, violence and also euthanasia are an attack on life.”
Before concluding with a blessing and asking for prayers, Pope Francis encouraged the participants to re-launch a renewed culture of life, and to not be afraid “to embark on a fruitful dialogue with the whole world of science, even with those who, while not professing themselves as believers, remain open to the mystery of human life.”
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On the NET:
Association for Science and Life (in Italian): http://www.scienzaevita.org/
On ZENIT’s Web page:
Full Text: http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-francis-address-to-the-science-and-life-association
