VATICAN CITY, 7 NOV 2008 (VIS) - At midday today, the Holy Father received participants in an international congress entitled: "A Gift for Life. Considerations on Organ Donation". The meeting is being held in Rome from 6 to 8 November and has been organised by the Pontifical Academy for Life in collaboration with the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations and the National Transplant Centre.
In his address the Pope affirmed that "tissue and organ transplants represent a great advance of medical science, and are certainly a sign of hope for many people suffering serious and at times critical illnesses".
"Unfortunately the problem of the availability of vital organs for transplant is not theoretical but dramatically real, as evinced in the long waiting lists of many sick people whose only hopes of survival are linked to a minimal supply which in no way corresponds to effective need".
Benedict XVI then recalled how "the body of each individual, along with the spirit which is given individually, constitutes an indivisible unit in which is impressed the image of God Himself". For this reason, "priority must be given to respect for the dignity of the person and protection of his or her individual identity".
Referring then to the technology of organ transplants, the Pope highlighted the fact that people can only donate "if the health and identity of the individual are never put at serious risk, and always for morally-valid and proportional reasons. Any logic of buying and selling of organs, or the adoption of discriminatory or utilitarian criteria ... is morally unacceptable.
"Abuses in the transplant and trafficking of organs, which often affect innocent people such as children, must find the scientific and medical community united in a joint refusal. These are unacceptable practices which must be condemned as abominable. The same ethical principle must be reiterated when it is suggested that human embryos be created and destroyed for therapeutic purposes. The very idea of considering the embryo as 'therapeutic material' contradicts the cultural, civil and ethical foundations upon which the dignity of the person rests".
After highlighting how "informed consent is a precondition of freedom" ensuring "that transplants have the nature of a gift and are not interpreted as acts of coercion or exploitation", the Holy Father recalled that "vital organs must not be removed save from a dead body, which also has a dignity that must be respected. Over recent years science has made further progress in ascertaining the death of a patient. ... In an area such as this, there must be no suspicion of arbitrariness, and where certainty has not been reached the principle of precaution must prevail".
Recipients of organs, Benedict XVI went on, "should be aware of the value of this gesture. They are recipients of a gift that goes beyond its therapeutic benefit. What they receive, in fact, ... is a testimony of love, and this must arouse an equally generous response so as to enhance the culture of giving and gratuity".
"Transplants which accord to this ethic of giving", the Pope concluded, "require all sides to invest every possible effort in formation and information, so as increasingly to awaken consciences to a problem that directly affects the lives of so many people. It is important, then, to avoid prejudices and misunderstandings, to overcome diffidence and fear replacing them with certainties and guarantees, so as to create in all people an ever-greater awareness of the great gift of life".
AC/ORGAN TRANSPLANT/... VIS 20081107 (590)
In his address the Pope affirmed that "tissue and organ transplants represent a great advance of medical science, and are certainly a sign of hope for many people suffering serious and at times critical illnesses".
"Unfortunately the problem of the availability of vital organs for transplant is not theoretical but dramatically real, as evinced in the long waiting lists of many sick people whose only hopes of survival are linked to a minimal supply which in no way corresponds to effective need".
Benedict XVI then recalled how "the body of each individual, along with the spirit which is given individually, constitutes an indivisible unit in which is impressed the image of God Himself". For this reason, "priority must be given to respect for the dignity of the person and protection of his or her individual identity".
Referring then to the technology of organ transplants, the Pope highlighted the fact that people can only donate "if the health and identity of the individual are never put at serious risk, and always for morally-valid and proportional reasons. Any logic of buying and selling of organs, or the adoption of discriminatory or utilitarian criteria ... is morally unacceptable.
"Abuses in the transplant and trafficking of organs, which often affect innocent people such as children, must find the scientific and medical community united in a joint refusal. These are unacceptable practices which must be condemned as abominable. The same ethical principle must be reiterated when it is suggested that human embryos be created and destroyed for therapeutic purposes. The very idea of considering the embryo as 'therapeutic material' contradicts the cultural, civil and ethical foundations upon which the dignity of the person rests".
After highlighting how "informed consent is a precondition of freedom" ensuring "that transplants have the nature of a gift and are not interpreted as acts of coercion or exploitation", the Holy Father recalled that "vital organs must not be removed save from a dead body, which also has a dignity that must be respected. Over recent years science has made further progress in ascertaining the death of a patient. ... In an area such as this, there must be no suspicion of arbitrariness, and where certainty has not been reached the principle of precaution must prevail".
Recipients of organs, Benedict XVI went on, "should be aware of the value of this gesture. They are recipients of a gift that goes beyond its therapeutic benefit. What they receive, in fact, ... is a testimony of love, and this must arouse an equally generous response so as to enhance the culture of giving and gratuity".
"Transplants which accord to this ethic of giving", the Pope concluded, "require all sides to invest every possible effort in formation and information, so as increasingly to awaken consciences to a problem that directly affects the lives of so many people. It is important, then, to avoid prejudices and misunderstandings, to overcome diffidence and fear replacing them with certainties and guarantees, so as to create in all people an ever-greater awareness of the great gift of life".
AC/ORGAN TRANSPLANT/... VIS 20081107 (590)
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