Vatican City, Nov 14, 2005 / 22:00 pm
This morning, Vatican officials held a press conference to discuss the upcoming International Conference on the Human Genome, presented, in large part, by the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry.
Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, together with, Bishop Jose L. Redrado O.H., and Fr. Felice Ruffini M.I., respectively secretary and under-secretary of the pontifical council; Maria Luisa Di Pietro, associate professor of bioethics at Rome's Sacred Heart Catholic University, and Fr. Angelo Serra S.J., professor emeritus of human genetics at the same university, presented the conference to reporters.
The 20th international conference is slated to be held at the Vatican from November 17th to the 19th , 2005, and will explore the theme of the human genome.Cardinal Lozano told those gathered that the conference will begin "by considering the genome as a structural element that organizes the human body into its individual and hereditary dimensions; it comprehends the entirety of the genes, but goes further to embrace all the other elements that, with the genes, constitute the original energy, developing throughout an entire existence and representing the key mystery of human life.
"This subject, he said, "is very broad and is to a large extent subject to new research and discoveries," but our aim is to discuss it "from the specific perspective of health," stressing its therapeutic aspects.The Cardinal also noted that the conference would unite "scientific, philosophical and theological reflections to orient the rest of the conference towards the theme of life. …”“From this starting point,” he said, “our journey will be divided into three stages: reality, illumination, action.