A love for creation, deepened and illuminated by faith, has "the possibility of directing economic development and scientific progress towards the covenant between man and woman, towards caring for our common humanity and towards the dignity of the human person," he said.
Sent for the 25th anniversary of the academy's institution, the letter urged active participation in the intercultural, interdisciplinary, and interreligious discussion of human rights. "At stake is the understanding and exercise of a justice that demonstrates the essential role of responsibility in the discussion of human rights," duties, and solidarity with those in need, he said.
The pope's letter also commented on the need for the Church to study "emergent" and "convergent" technologies, such as formation and communication technologies, biotechnologies, nanotechnologies and robotics.
Due to advancements in physics, genetics, neuroscience and computing, it is now possible to make "profound interventions on living organisms," he said, which creates a "pressing need" to understand "these epochal changes and new frontiers" in order to put them at the service of the human person while "respecting and promoting the intrinsic dignity of all."
Pope Francis noted that Pope St. John Paul II's institution of the academy on Feb. 11, 1994, was, as he wrote at the time, to promote research, education, and communications which show "that science and technology, at the service of the human person and his fundamental rights, contribute to the overall good of man and to the fulfilment of the divine plan of salvation."
The Pontifical Academy for Life's new statutes, adopted in October 2016, were intended to give a "renewed impetus" to this task and to engagement with contemporary issues surrounding technological and scientific advancement, he explained.