Donum Vitae
Introduction
1. Biomedical Research and the
Teaching of the Church
The gift of life which God the Creator and Father has entrusted
to man calls him to appreciate the inestimable value of what
he has been given and to take responsibility for it: this
fundamental principle must be placed at the centre of one's
reflection in order to clarify and solve the moral problems
raised by artificial interventions on life as it originates
and on the processes of procreation. Thanks to the progress
of the biological and medical sciences, man has at his disposal
ever more effective therapeutic resources; but he can also
acquire new powers, with unforeseeable consequences, over
human life at its very beginning and in its first stages.
Various procedures now make it possible to intervene not only
in order to assist but also to dominate the processes of procreation.
These techniques can enable man to "take in hand his
own destiny", but they also expose him "to the temptation
to go beyond the limits of a reasonable dominion over nature".(1)
They might constitute progress in the service of man, but
they also involve serious risks. Many people are therefore
expressing an urgent appeal that in interventions on procreation
the values and rights of the human person be safeguarded.
Requests for clarification and guidance are coming not only
from the faithful but also from those who recognize the Church
as "an expert in humanity " (2)
with a mission to serve the "civilization of love"
(3) and of life.
The Church's Magisterium does not intervene on the basis
of a particular competence in the area of the experimental
sciences; but having taken account of the data of research
and technology, it intends to put forward, by virtue of its
evangelical mission and apostolic duty, the moral teaching
corresponding to the dignity of the person and to his or her
integral vocation. It intends to do so by expounding the criteria
of moral judgment as regards the applications of scientific
research and technology, especially in relation to human life
and its beginnings. These criteria are the respect, defence
and promotion of man, his "primary and fundamental right"
to life,(4) his dignity as a person
who is endowed with a spiritual soul and with moral responsibility
(5) and who is called to beatific
communion with God. The Church's intervention in this field
is inspired also by the Love which she owes to man, helping
him to recognize and respect his rights and duties. This love
draws from the fount of Christ's love: as she contemplates
the mystery of the Incarnate Word, the Church also comes to
understand the "mystery of man"; (6)
by proclaiming the Gospel of salvation, she reveals to man
his dignity and invites him to discover fully the truth of
his own being. Thus the Church once more puts forward the
divine law in order to accomplish the work of truth and liberation.
For it is out of goodness - in order to indicate the path
of life - that God gives human beings his commandments and
the grace to observe them: and it is likewise out of goodness
- in order to help them persevere along the same path - that
God always offers to everyone his forgiveness. Christ has
compassion on our weaknesses: he is our Creator and Redeemer.
May his spirit open men's hearts to the gift of God's peace
and to an understanding of his precepts.
2. Science and Technology at
the Service of the Human Person
God created man in his own image and likeness: "male
and female he created them" (Gen 1: 27 ), entrusting
to them the task of "having dominion over the earth"
(Gen 1:28). Basic scientific research and applied research
constitute a significant expression of this dominion of man
over creation. Science and technology are valuable resources
for man when placed at his service and when they promote his
integral development for the benefit of all; but they cannot
of themselves show the meaning of existence and of human progress.
Being ordered to man, who initiates and develops them, they
draw from the person and his moral values the indication of
their purpose and the awareness of their limits.
It would on the one hand be illusory to claim that scientific
research and its applications are morally neutral; on the
other hand one cannot derive criteria for guidance from mere
technical efficiency, from research's possible usefulness
to some at the expense of others, or, worse still, from prevailing
ideologies. Thus science and technology require, for their
own intrinsic meaning, an unconditional respect for the fundamental
criteria of the moral law: that is to say, they must be at
the service of the human person, of his inalienable rights
and his true and integral good according to the design and
will of God.(7) The rapid development
of technological discoveries gives greater urgency to this
need to respect the criteria just mentioned: science without
conscience can only lead to man's ruin. "Our era needs
such wisdom more than bygone ages if the discoveries made
by man are to be further humanized. For the future of the
world stands in peril unless wiser people are forthcoming".(8)
3. Anthropology and Procedures
in the Biomedical Field
Which moral criteria must be applied in order to clarify
the problems posed today in the field of biomedicine? The
answer to this question presupposes a proper idea of the nature
of the human person in his bodily dimension.
For it is only in keeping with his true nature that the human
person can achieve self-realization as a "unified totality":(9)
and this nature is at the same time corporal and spiritual.
By virtue of its substantial union with a spiritual soul,
the human body cannot be considered as a mere complex of tissues,
organs and functions, nor can it be evaluated in the same
way as the body of animals; rather it is a constitutive part
of the person who manifests and expresses himself through
it. The natural moral law expresses and lays down the purposes,
rights and duties which are based upon the bodily and spiritual
nature of the human person. Therefore this law cannot be thought
of as simply a set of norms on the biological level; rather
it must be defined as the rational order whereby man is called
by the Creator to direct and regulate his life and actions
and in particular to make use of his own body.(10)
A first consequence can be deduced from these principles:
an intervention on the human body affects not only the tissues,
the organs and their functions but also involves the person
himself on different levels. It involves, therefore, perhaps
in an implicit but nonetheless real way, a moral significance
and responsibility. Pope John Paul II forcefully reaffirmed
this to the World Medical Association when he said: "Each
human person, in his absolutely unique singularity, is constituted
not only by his spirit, but by his body as well. Thus, in
the body and through the body, one touches the person himself
in his concrete reality. To respect the dignity of man consequently
amounts to safeguarding this identity of the man 'corpore
et anima unus', as the Second Vatican Council says (Gaudium
et Spes, 14, par.1). It is on the basis of this anthropological
vision that one is to find the fundamental criteria for decision-making
in the case of procedures which are not strictly therapeutic,
as, for example, those aimed at the improvement of the human
biological condition".(11)
Applied biology and medicine work together for the integral
good of human life when they come to the aid of a person stricken
by illness and infirmity and when they respect his or her
dignity as a creature of God. No biologist or doctor can reasonably
claim, by virtue of his scientific competence, to be able
to decide on people's origin and destiny. This norm must be
applied in a particular way in the field of sexuality and
procreation, in which man and woman actualize the fundamental
values of love and life. God, who is love and life, has inscribed
in man and woman the vocation to share in a special way in
his mystery of personal communion and in his work as Creator
and Father.(12) For this reason
marriage possesses specific goods and values in its union
and in procreation which cannot be likened to those existing
in lower forms of life. Such values and meanings are of the
personal order and determine from the moral point of view
the meaning and limits of artificial interventions on procreation
and on the origin of human life. These interventions are not
to be rejected on the grounds that they are artificial. As
such, they bear witness to the possibilities of the art of
medicine. But they must be given a moral evaluation in reference
to the dignity of the human person, who is called to realize
his vocation from God to the gift of love and the gift of
life.
4. Fundamental Criteria for a
Moral Judgment
The fundamental values connected with the techniques of artificial
human procreation are two: the life of the human being called
into existence and the special nature of the transmission
of human life in marriage. The moral judgment on such methods
of artificial procreation must therefore be formulated in
reference to these values.
Physical life, with which the course of human life in the
world begins, certainly does not itself contain the whole
of a person's value, nor does it represent the supreme good
of man who is called to eternal life. However it does constitute
in a certain way the "fundamental " value of life,
precisely because upon this physical life all the other values
of the person are based and developed.(13)
The inviolability of the innocent human being's right to life
"from the moment of conception until death" (14)
is a sign and requirement of the very inviolability of the
person to whom the Creator has given the gift of life. By
comparison with the transmission of other forms of life in
the universe, the transmission of human life has a special
character of its own, which derives from the special nature
of the human person. "The transmission of human life
is entrusted by nature to a personal and conscious act and
as such is subject to the all-holy laws of God: immutable
and inviolable laws which must be recognized and observed.
For this reason one cannot use means and follow methods which
could be licit in the transmission of the life of plants and
animals" (15)
Advances in technology have now made it possible to procreate
apart from sexual relations through the meeting in vitro
of the germ-cells previously taken from the man and the woman.
But what is technically possible is not for that very reason
morally admissible. Rational reflection on the fundamental
values of life and of human procreation is therefore indispensable
for formulating a moral evaluation of such technological interventions
on a human being from the first stages of his development.
5. Teachings of the Magisterium
On its part, the Magisterium of the Church offers to human
reason in this field too the light of Revelation: the doctrine
concerning man taught by the Magisterium contains many elements
which throw light on the problems being faced here. From the
moment of conception, the life of every human being is to
be respected in an absolute way because man is the only creature
on earth that God has "wished for himself " (16)
and the spiritual soul of each man is "immediately created"
by God; (17)
his whole being bears the image of the Creator. Human life
is sacred because from its beginning it involves "the
creative action of God" (18)
and it remains forever in a special relationship with she
Creator, who is its sole end.(19)
God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its
end: no one can, in any circumstance, claim for himself the
right to destroy directly an innocent human being. (20)
Human procreation requires on the part of the spouses responsible
collaboration with the fruitful love of God; (21)
the gift of human life must be actualized in marriage through
the specific and exclusive acts of husband and wife, in accordance
with the laws inscribed in their persons and in their union.(22)
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