ACADEMY STUDIES TRANSPLANTS OF ANIMAL ORGANS TO HUMANS

VATICAN CITY, JUL 1, 2001 (VIS) - Published today was a Message from the Holy Father to the participants in a study session organized by the Pontifical Academy for Life on the licitness of the transplant of animal organs to humans.

"The aim of your work," says the Message, "is first of all of human interest because it is suggested by the need to solve the problem of the serious lack of valid human organs for transplants: it is well known that such an insufficiency causes the death of a high percentage of patients on waiting lists who could have been saved with a transplant, thus prolonging a valid and always precious life. Certainly, giving animal organs and tissues to man through transplants involves serious new problems of a scientific and ethical nature."

The Pope highlights the importance of "taking to heart at the same time the good and dignity of the human person, the health risks which are not always foreseeable or quantifiable and an attentive regard for animals which is always a duty even when one operates on them for the superior good of man, a spiritual being created in the image and likeness of God."

"One can see ever more," the Holy Father notes, "that the alliance between science and ethics enriches both branches of knowledge. ... The caveats and the clear conditions of the practicability of transplants from animals to humans, which you have underlined, are the fruit of this dialogue and this convergence."

In conclusion, the Pope writes: "The Church, therefore, will always offer its own support and assistance to those who seek the authentic good of man with the strength of reason, illuminated by faith."

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