Congress of European Catholic doctors”Scientific research must be subordinated to the moral values brought to light by Christianity. A laboratory without oratory – without prayer – becomes a crematorium like Auschwitz. Scientific research, if deprived of moral and religious references, will lead to the annihilation of man, as in the time of the crematorium ovens”, said Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan , President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Workers, in his keynote address to the participants in the 11th European Congress of Associations of Catholic doctors, held at Gdansk in Poland from 11 to 14 September. The almost 300 physicians, jurists and priests of various countries of the old continent, meeting for four days in the Polish city, discussed the challenges of biomedicine, concentrating on the problems relating to the central theme of the congress: “Natural law and human law in modern European medicine”. Cardinal Barragan pointed out the need, in the age of globalization, to have a system of rules, applicable throughout the world, in the field of biomedicine. “Poland is one of the countries of the EU in which the laws that regulate the field of biomedicine are most deficient”, added Marek Safjan , former President of the Polish Constitutional Court. “Fundamental laws are lacking – observed the jurist -, even rather technical ones pertaining to the definition of paternity and maternity of the child conceived with the method of assisted procreation, or those concerning the right of the child to his/her own genetic identity, the control of the human gamete and prenatal diagnosis”. The need to have recourse to conscientious objection, if the legal code fails to respect the natural law, was underlined by Alicja Grzeskowiak , former President of the Polish Senate, recalling that members of the medical profession were the first who had the duty to refuse to carry out the immoral acts imposed by the law. The head of the national office for pastoral assistance in care homes, Father Piotr Krakowiak , sees in the voluntary service, whose members consist in the main of youth, an important signal of hope for Europe. The dedication of volunteers to the elderly, the sick and those unable to look after themselves, represents, in his view, a strong signal of protest against those who support euthanasia. According to the Jesuit Olivier De Dinechin , member of the French committee of bioethics, “the treatment of the patient cannot dispense with moral prescriptions, despite the fact that the modern world places them in question by admitting euthanasia, fertilization in vitro or other practices”. Alfredo Anzani , vice-president of the European Federation of Catholic medical associations, spoke of the weakening of the vital link between the body and the concept of the good of the entire person. “The doctor, he observed, is increasingly becoming merely the provider of services aimed at the satisfaction of the customer”. Catholics and European integrationSpeaking to the participants in the International Conference dedicated to the role of the Catholic Church in European integration, in Krakow on 12 September, Cardinal Angelo Sodano underlined the need to remain faithful to the European heritage of values by participating in all initiatives that aim to define the rules of co-existence in our continent. “Without doubt – said the cardinal – moral relativism has become very strong in recent times, but on the other hand we need to avoid excessive pessimism”. Intervening in the debate dedicated to the hopes and apprehensions of Christians for the future of European, Rocco Buttiglione declared: “Despite the numerous signals of a possible end of Europe, signs of a new beginning are not lacking either. While some are striving to destroy the temple, the work of its reconstruction has already begun. New, powerful movements of re-evangelization have emerged and have grown almost from nothing, without any support and without funding, thanks to the impulse of a living faith”. According to Buttiglione, “events such as Family Day in Madrid or in Rome are an invitation to hope and lead us to think that we have perhaps got over the deepest point of the crisis”. As regards the political forces of Christian inspiration, “it’s impossible they can have a future without an inner renewal to attune them to the profound tendencies of a post-secular Europe in which the religious reference may once again be living and present. If we wish to avoid the failure of a faceless Europe as heralded by the Dutch, French and Irish referendums, we must strive to give a face to Europe”. “Pragmatists – he concluded – have always told us that the European institutions would win the consent of citizens just by virtue of the practical advantages they brought with them. It seems the very opposite is true: the peoples of Europe are unwilling to be involved unless there is a cultural vision, an intrinsically political project, that are inspired by common values and a common culture”.
