031774 ncr Right to live defended by Pope Paul

VATICAN CITY (NC) - Pope Paul VI defended man's "inalienable right to live from the first moment of his existence" at an audience given to an international group of scientists.

Speaking in French, Pope Paul told his visitors, among them seven Nobel prize winners, that the Church favors their research.

He said that their attempts to define "with the greatest precision possible the complex laws governing the physical and biological universe is already a search for truth that gives homage to the Author of nature and also to the human spirit that participates in His wisdom."

Many contributions to this search come from different sources, the Pope noted. In addition to contributions from the fields of science and medical research, contributions must also come from "the philosopher, politician, lawyer, as well as from, we think, the moralist and the theologian."

"in this field, in fact, the Catholic Church has a global concept of man that is the basis for its attitudes toward real problems," he said. "The Church is pleased with the dominion that man acquires over his life, not to change it for his pleasure but to expand on it according to all the possibilities written in its nature."

The Pope added that the Church "is concerned with the quality of life on all its levels because all are arranged according to the spiritual vocation of man."

The Church recognizes the "sacred character of each man," the Pope continued "guaranteed by Him who had created man in His own image, and who surrounds him with His love and calls him to live with Him.

"The Church recognizes therefore man's inalienable right to live, from the first moment of his existence - a right which no human can set aside -. a right which applies also to his fellow men and, above all, to his family, and to the conditions necessary for a truly human life."

Pope Paul concluded his observations by telling the scientists that "the Church thus puts the problems of life in the light of a faith that reveals the full sense of man on the path of a long experience of an assent to life."

To his visitors, whom he acknowledged were "justly -concerned with the conditions of life for future generations," the Pope both expressed his esteem and interest in their work, adding that he hopes it will contribute to a "high service for humanity."