Vatican City, Feb 26, 2006 / 22:00 pm
As the Vatican’s much-anticipated International Congress on “the human embryo prior to implantation” begins today, Pope Benedict XVI met with delegates, to whom he stressed the importance of the divine reality of God, shining forth through even the simplest and smallest human being, namely, the embryo.
The General assembly, being held today and tomorrow at the Vatican, is being hosted by the Pontifical Academy for Life.
The Pope called the Congress theme "fascinating, but difficult and arduous given the delicate nature of the subject being examined and the complexity of epistemological problems concerning the relationship" between experimental scientific data and reflection on anthropological values.
He went on to reference scripture, which "expresses the love of God towards all human beings even before they take form in the mother's womb," adding that "The love of God does not distinguish between the newly-conceived infant still in its mother's womb, the baby, the youth, the grown adult or the elderly.”