.- The Pontifical Academy for Life began its 16th plenary meeting Thursday afternoon under the theme of "Bioethics and Natural Law." The sessions of the congress will seek to "regain" an understanding of natural law.
President of the Academy for Life, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, told Vatican Radio before the start of the gathering that the assembled members of the Academy for Life would be seeking to confront the different positions on the theme and to "regain that common denominator that is found in natural law and that ... isn't an invention of the Catholic Church.
"Natural law is a reality that all of us are called to discover continuously," he stated, adding that throughout the centuries the Greeks, Romans and other religions have recognized it as the "fundamental nucleus through which it's possible to discover and complete a first discernment between that which is good and ... evil, in light of that which is imprinted on nature itself."
“And nature, in this case, doesn't make any distinction: nature only calls us back to that cosmic order that is present everywhere and that we can only recognize, indeed interpret, but primarily respect,” Archbishop Fisichella explained.
The congress of the Pontifical Academy for Life will be taking place in the Vatican's New Synod Hall from Feb. 11 - 13 and will conclude with an audience with Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday.
