Vatican City, Feb 22, 2004 / 22:00 pm
The issues surrounding human reproduction involve essential values that apply to all human beings, said the Pope in a message to the delegates of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Feb. 21.
The delegates were in Rome for their annual plenary assembly, which discussed issues related to the theme, Dignity of Human Reproduction. At the end of their plenary, they met with Pope John Paul II, who relayed two messages to them.
“The subject you are discussing is loaded with grave problems and implications, which deserve careful examination,” he told the academy, headed by Chilean Scholar Juan de Dios Vial Correa. “Essential values are at play, not only for Christians, but for all human beings.”
In his message, the Pope cited the basic tenets of his Theology of the Body and defended the family as the union of man and woman, aimed at bringing children into the world.