VATICAN CITY, NOV. 21, 2005 (
Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI explained that the dignity of a human being is not identified with his DNA genes -- and thus it does not
diminish when genetic defects exist.
The Pope's explanation was heard Saturday by some 700 doctors, scientists, philosophers
and theologians, who gathered in the Vatican to take part in a three-day conference organized by the Pontifical Council for
Health Care Workers on "The Human Genome."
"The people of our time," the Holy Father said, "sensitized by the terrible
vicissitudes that have covered the 20th century and the very beginning of this one in mourning, are able to understand that
man's dignity is not identified with his DNA genes and that it does not diminish with the eventual presence of physical differences
or genetic defects."
In his Italian-language address, Benedict XVI said: "The principle of 'non-discrimination' in
virtue of physical or genetic factors has entered profoundly in consciences and is enunciated formally in the charters on
the rights of man."
Quoting the first chapter of Genesis, he affirmed: "This principle has its most authentic foundation
in the very dignity of every human being by the fact of having been created in the image and likeness of God."
