The progress of bioethics presents us with challenges, and we Christians, Pope Francis tells us, “must respond” with “an even more profound and subtle discernment,” without “hiding our head like an ostrich.” This Christian response has an essential starting point: “Applications of biotechnological must always be used based on respect for human dignity.” It’s no use to oppose inevitable progress; we must seek to protect “both human dignity and progress,” fight against “the throw-away culture,” and avoid “allowing financial gain to condition biomedical research.”

It is evident that science has progressed, and today the field of bioethics presents us with a series of problems to which we must respond, not hiding our head like an ostrich.

Let us pray that we may give a Christian response to bioethical challenges.

Applications of biotechnological must always be used based on respect for human dignity.

For example, human embryos cannot be treated as disposable material, to be discarded.