VATICAN CITY (VIS) – On Thursday the Pope received the
participants in an international conference focusing on the theme,
“Globalization and Catholic Universities,” organized jointly by the
Congregation for Catholic Education and the International Federation of
Catholic Universities.
The Holy Father encouraged rectors and professors of Catholic
universities all over the world to “be observant of what is promising to
man and mankind in scientific and technological progress and also in the
phenomena of globalization, but also of the dangers that may exist in the
future.” In this sense, he referred to topics that directly concern the
dignity of the person and man's fundamental rights which “are intimately
related to the big questions in bioethics, such as the statute of the human
embryo and stem cells, today the object of disturbing experiments and
manipulations, not always moral or scientifically justified.”
Professors and students, he said, “are called to bear clear witness to
their faith before the scientific community, showing their commitment to
the truth and their respect for the human person. For Christians, research
must in effect be undertaken in the light of faith, rooted in prayer,
listening to the Word of God, in Tradition and in the teaching of the
Magisterium.”
John Paul II emphasized that Catholic universities “have the duty to live
the teaching of the Magisterium in the different fields of research in
which they are involved, while preserving their scientific autonomy.”
The Pope stated that university authorities have the obligation to “be
vigilant in maintaining rectitude and Catholic principles in teaching and
research in the heart of their university. It is clear that university
centers that do not respect the Church's laws and the teaching of the
Magisterium, especially in bioethics, cannot be defined as Catholic
universities.”
The Holy Father concluded by affirming that Catholic universities “are
called to be places of dialogue with the whole university world in order
that cultural formation and research may be at the service of the common
good and of man, who cannot be considered a simple tool for research.”
(This article courtesy of the Vatican Information Service.)
