Angelus News | July 29, 2022 | Vol. 7 No. 15

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POPE WATCH
Help for a ‘disoriented’ world
A
new free e-book from the Vatican
on bioethical questions aims
to give young Catholics answers
to the “great challenges generated by
scientific and technological progress.”
“Keys to Bioethics: A Manual for
Youth” was prepared by the Jérôme
Lejeune Foundation and released by
the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family
and Life this month. Its publication
comes at the close of the “Amoris Laetitia”
(“The Joy of Love”) family year
declared by Pope Francis last year.
“On the occasion of the ‘Amoris
Laetitia Family Year,’ the pope invites
us to strive to discover together, as a
family of families, the values that lead
to the true Good,” read the July 15
announcement from the dicastery.
“To this end, this e-book is intended
to help transmit the teaching and hope
of life to our young people. It can be
useful for parents and educators to
accompany young people on the path
of accurate reflection on the most
current issues concerning bioethics.”
According to the dicastery, the manual
“aims at objectively introducing
children and young people to the
significant issues of Bioethics, which
arise in each of us when faced with
scientific and technological progress,
leaving us sometimes disoriented.
“Adhering to the principles of science
and human reason, it aims at helping
give simple answers starting from precise
and rigorous technical information,
to which the Christian faith adds
meaning.”
The manual states that human life
begins at fertilization and that IUDs,
RU-486, and the morning-after pill
can induce abortions — and that the
regular birth control pill can have an
abortifacient effect. Other topics covered
include the contraceptive mentality,
genetic screening, reproductive
technology, eugenics, stem-cell
research, euthanasia, organ donation,
and gender.
Discussing gender identity, the
manual states that “in fact, there is no
way to change one’s sex. To try to do so
is to mutilate the body and to create a
lie within the human person, who may
be altered to look like the other sex but
can never truly be the other sex.”
The manual also takes issue with
homosexual parenting, citing recent
research that “has shown that a loving
mother and father in a stable relationship
are essential to the healthy
development of children. The desire
of homosexual couples to override the
biological constraint on their ability
to have children is not a sufficient
reason to place children in a same-sex
household.”
The e-book’s publication comes a
month after the same dicastery published
a document with suggestions for
a yearlong “marriage catechumenate”
endorsed by Pope Francis. That document
underlined the importance of
education of young couples on such
topics.
“Some complex issues pertaining to
marital sexuality or openness to life
— such as responsible parenting, artificial
insemination, prenatal diagnosis
and other bioethical issues — have
strong ethical, relational and spiritual
repercussions for spouses and require
specific formation and clarity,” the
document read.
Reporting courtesy of Catholic News
Service and Catholic World News.
Papal Prayer Intentions for August: We pray for small- and
medium-sized businesses; in the midst of economic and
social crisis, may they find ways to continue operating, and
serving their communities.
2 • ANGELUS • July 29, 2022