Dignitas Personae

Mons. Elio Sgreggia
the Vatican's top official on bioethical questions
©EMANUELA DE MEO/CPP
Catholicpressphoto.com

The Vatican has issued a new instruction on bioethics, Dignitas Personae.

The Q&As issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops state that it is "an “instruction” from the Catholic Church’s highest doctrinal agency, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), applying timeless moral principles to some new issues and situations arising from biotechnology. It does not declare a new infallibly defined dogma, but is approved by Pope Benedict XVI and has his authority."

Here are links to key documents:

• The Vatican Press Release
• Instruction Dignitas Personae on Certain Bioethical Questions
• Regarding the Instruction Dignitas Personae (Vatican Summary)

Thomas Peters has some added links regarding Dignitas Personae. This instruction is a follow-up document on bioethics from the CDF to Donum Vitae (1987) and Evangelium Vitae (1995).

Comment: I will not comment on the content of the instruction. There are already many such comments in the media. JAD

Ps: The Washington Post today has a front page article discussing Dignitas Personae. It notes:

The document could also play a role in current political debates. President-elect Barack Obama, for example, has promised to end restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, just as the Bush administration is finalizing a broad new federal regulation designed to protect health-care workers who object to providing therapy or care they find morally objectionable. The document does not address either of those issues directly but provides guidance on both.

Comment: While it seems reasonable not to require health care workers to perform things which they find morally objectionable, that might keep someone from a religious group that does not believe in transfusions from giving a life saving transfusion, or keep someone from removing a brain-dead person from life support systems. This is clearly a Bush administration effort to pander to a narrow constituency, without proper concern for the potential repercussions. Still another legacy of the Bush administration that the Obama administration will havfe to overturn. JAD