Benedict XVI: "Marriage is the only worthy place for having children"

02/25/2012

Benedict XVI: "Marriage is the only worthy place for having children"

Benedict XVI

Thus affirmed the Pope in his address to participants of the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Academy forLife, dedicated to the theme of infertility

Alessandro Speciale
vatican city

It is a growing problem, especially in the West; yet infertility receives less attention from the media than other issues related to sexuality, and scientific research in this field runs the risk of being dominated primarily by the "logic of profit".

These are the reasons that led the Pontifical Academy forLife to devote its General Assembly this year to the theme of the "Diagnosis and Treatment of Infertility".

An issue, Pope Benedict XVI said this morning when receiving the participants in a papal audience, which highlights the possibilities of mutual cooperation betweenthe Church and scientific research, provided that it is conducted "rigorously" and "always keeping in mind the moral aspect".

In his speech, Pope Benedict emphasized how the "search for a diagnosis and treatment" for infertility in couples is not only "the most scientifically correct approach to the matter" but also is the "most respectful of the full humanity involved."

And this despite the fact that there are many who consider the research in this field "obsolete", before the"allure of the technology of artificial insemination".

For the pope, the "legitimate parental aspirations of the couple" must find "with the help of science, an answer that fully respects their dignity as persons and as spouses."

In fact, he recalled, "the union of man and woman in that community of love and life that is marriage, is the only 'place' worthy of the calling into existence of a new human being, which is always a gift."

But even those who, despite treatment, are unable to have children should not be discouraged: their "vocation to marriage" is not frustrated by failure, because the "vocation to love is a vocation to give themselves and this is a possibility that no bodily condition can prevent."

But Benedict XVI also warned against the risks of a science that, in "the field of infertility and human procreation" seems to be dominated by "scientism" and the "logic of profit" that end up "limiting" that same research in many areas.

For this reason, the pontiff urged the scientists, who have arrived in Rome from Europe, Canada, the United States and Latin America at the invitation of the Academy forLife, to work with "intellectual honesty" - in the name of a science "that keeps awake its spirit of seeking the truth"- but also with" humility "and" precision" in contexts where, at times, "the dimension of the truth is blurred."

"Never succumb to the temptation to treat the good of people by reducing it to a mere technical problem!”, he warned. “Moral indifference to the true and the good represents a dangerous threat to genuine scientific progress."

Interviewed by Vatican Radio, the president of the Pontifical Academy forLife, Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, said that the decision to investigate the causes and treatment of infertility is meant to offer a "help" to people, against the "spread of recourse to other procedures that are less effective and certainly more expensive."

"We have received many requests from people who tell us: 'We would like to have a child, but are unable to do so, and we don't want to use in vitro fertilization, we disagree with it. What can we do?", he said.

For the bishop, there is a "cultural gap" that causes many new scientific discoveries regarding infertility to remain in the background due to the centrality of the issue of fertilization. There's plenty to do, too, he added, in the field of prevention, "because a major cause of infertility is the spread of certain types of behavior" such as tobaccoism and alcohol.

Benedict XVI: "Marriage is the only worthy place for having children"

Benedict XVI: "Marriage is the only worthy place for having children"

Thus affirmed the Pope in his address to participants of the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Academy forLife, dedicated to the theme of infertility

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