Vatican City, Nov 20, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Over the weekend, Pope Benedict met with members of a Vatican conference on health care ministry, to whom, he urged; scientific advances ought to serve the "integral good of the person, in constant respect for his or her dignity."
The international conference was the 20th of its kind and sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry. It was held in the Vatican from the 17th to the 19th on the theme of the human genome.
The Pope told conference participants during his Saturday address that "believers well know that the Gospel is in intrinsic harmony with the values inscribed in human nature."
"The image of God", he said, "is so strongly impressed on man's soul that it difficult for the voice of conscience to be completely silenced. ... Even people who no longer recognize themselves as members of the Church, or who have lost the light of faith, remain attentive to human values and to the positive contribution the Gospel can make to individual and social good."