ROME, October 18, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pope John Paul II warned of ‘threatening shadows’ hanging over humanity in his anniversary address. The Pope thanked the many thousands of well-wishers Sunday in his regular weekly greeting. Without specifically naming abortion, cloning or related biotechnologies, the Pope warned, “scientific research (is) sometimes put to the service of the selfishness of the strongest.” He asked, “What stronger aspiration is there than that of life?” Catholic criticisms of the direction taken in biotechnological research are founded upon the dangers of utilitarian philosophies in current bioethics. The Pope’s reference to ‘the selfishness of the strongest,’ is against the current thought in bioethics that in so-called ‘therapeutic cloning’ individual human lives can be sacrificed for research.
The same evening the Pope was present at a Mass celebrating the opening of the Eucharistic year in the Catholic Church and he announced that the next Eucharistic Congress will be held in Quebec City in 2008. At the celebration, the Pope said the Eucharist is also the source of the world’s inner life, and contrasted that life with that of “a culture that denies respect for life in every stage.” ph