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Discover the principles and differences between Secular and Catholic bioethics!
The extraordinary medical and technological development of the last century has made us capable of things worthy of the best sci-fi movies. We can transplant a heart from one person to another. We can clone an animal using a single somatic cell. We have created AI so complex that we are now questioning the very meaning of being human. These new possibilities are both exciting and frightening. Is it necessary to set limits to what mankind can achieve in the laboratory? And who should be responsible for setting these limits, so that they benefit both humans and the world in which we live? The need for answers to these questions has given rise to a new discipline: bioethics.
The term ‘bioethics‘ was coined in 1970 by the American biochemist and oncologist Van Rensselaer Potter. As he explained in his book ‘Bioethics. Bridge to the future‘: “I chose the root bio to represent biological knowledge, the science of living systems; and ethics to represent knowledge of the human value system.”
Bioethics deals with the rational analysis of moral problems emerging in the biomedical sciences. Bioethics deals with various issues: abortion, therapeutic obstinacy, cloning, euthanasia, genetic engineering, medically assisted procreation, clinical trials of drugs, assisted suicide, and transplants.
In Italy specifically, there is a National Bioethics Committee. This governing body has the task of identifying parameters and proposing opinions on possible legislative frameworks. It takes into consideration abstract concepts such as morals and ethics of both the Italian and international population. Definitely not an easy task!
In general, given the religious and cultural pluralism in which we live, bioethics branches out into a number of currents of thought. In this article, we will deal with the two currents that are most influential on Italian politics and thought: secular bioethics and Catholic bioethics. The focus of the article is on the Italian bioethics scene, which is a religious state where opposing views often clash on sensitive bioethical issues. Different European states have different positions on the subjects addressed.
However, it is important to remember that there are branches of bioethics connected to all the different religions (Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, etc.). Even if these religions constitute a minority in Italy, they should still be taken into account when establishing new laws.
Secular bioethics deals with moral issues related to new medical technologies “etsi Deus non daretur”, as if there were no God. This does not mean that secular institutions preach the non-existence of God. For example, it is possible to be in favor of a secular government while having a religious belief.
Put simply, secular bioethics follows a current of thought not connected to the principles of a specific religion. This aims to create a situation of egalitarian respect and consideration, regardless of the different religions professed. According to secular bioethics, the only way to establish universally recognized concepts is to conceive of them outside the frameworks of thought that define a religion specifically.
Italian secular bioethics is not an entirely unified current of thought. As a matter of fact, it is made up of a plurality of views, reflecting the plurality of human thought. Indeed, it often happens that an action that is morally unacceptable to one person is acceptable to another. From the point of view of secular bioethics, at the basis of a sound bioethics – capable of keeping pace with developments in society – is the discussion born of the coming together of different views.
Despite its plurality, secular bioethics develops around four core principles:
– The centrality of autonomy and individual freedom. Indeed, no higher authority can assume the right to choose for the health and life of the individual.
– The value placed on the quality of life, which must be the best possible according to the individual’s criterion. Every person has the right to live and die with as little suffering as possible.
– Sanctity of life, in relation to different and personal conceptions of value. This term refers to an individual’s right to choose their own death.
– Ethics understood as an essentially human discipline, i.e., the result of rational human reflection and not as a set of principles ‘given’ by some moral authority or inscribed in nature. This principle therefore professes respect for any religious belief in individual ethical choices.
The positions of secular bioethics on the various issues, which we will discuss shortly, are developed around these four core principles.
Although Italy is officially a secular state, the Church’s views have always influenced the politics and thinking of the population. And it continues to influence them to this day. This is probably due to the fact that, nowadays, 66.7% of the Italian population is Catholic. About 40 million people in Italy follow this religious belief. And the Church, God’s representative on earth, offers to give these people moral and ethical advice in line with what is written in the Holy Scriptures.
Catholic bioethics thus represents the Church’s values in the field of biomedical sciences. It descends from the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church. The emergence of technologies capable of drastically influencing the very essence of human life (think, for example, of genetic engineering) has led to the need to establish a body that can suggest limitations according to the principles of Catholic thought.
Catholic bioethics is based on the principles of dignity and the sacredness of human life from conception to natural death. According to the Catholic religion, each person was made at the will of God and in His image and likeness. From this it follows that the life of every individual is a gift. The individual therefore has the task of handling this gift with care and attention. The only one who can freely dispose of it is God.
Contrary to secular biology, the life of every person is therefore not at disposal either in its initial phase of conception or in its final phase.
The overriding right to safeguard life, as a sacred entity, is complemented by the fifth and perhaps the most famous commandment: You shall not kill. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2258 says, “No one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being”.
Secular bioethics and Catholic bioethics often have diametrically opposed positions on life and its meaning. For this reason, positions on medical innovations are also often divergent. And, consequently, so are the resulting legislative suggestions.
Medically assisted procreation refers to various medical techniques of conception used where spontaneous fertilization is a remote or completely impossible possibility. In Italy, these techniques are regulated by “Law 40/2004“. As the name implies, this law was stipulated only in 2004 (the first proposed laws date back to 1958). The legislative text allows IVF only for heterosexual couples - homosexuals and singles are excluded. In addition, it allows the use of a maximum of 3 embryos implanted at the same time. This detail reduces the success rate and favors twin births, which have a higher risk of complications.
What is the position of bioethics, both secular and Catholic, on this issue?
Secular bioethics believes that Law 40 is restrictive and incomplete. Indeed, it does not fully respect the principles of individual freedom and quality of life. According to Catholic bioethics, on the other hand, the gift of human life must be realized in marriage by specific and exclusive acts of the spouses. Furthermore, Pope John Paul II states in Evangelium Vitae (March 25, 1995):
”The various techniques of artificial reproduction, which would seem to be at the service of life and which are frequently used with this intention, actually open the door to new threats against life. Apart from the fact that they are morally unacceptable, since they separate procreation from the fully human context of the conjugal act, 14 these techniques have a high rate of failure: not just failure in relation to fertilization but with regard to the subsequent development of the embryo, which is exposed to the risk of death, generally within a very short space of time. Furthermore, the number of embryos produced is often greater than that needed for implantation in the woman’s womb, and these so-called “spare embryos” are then destroyed or used for research which, under the pretext of scientific or medical progress, in fact reduces human life to the level of simple “biological material” to be freely disposed of”.
Another debated issue is that of voluntary termination of pregnancy. In Italy, the procedure has been legal since 1978 and is regulated by Law 194/78. According to this law, abortion is possible in a public facility during the first 90 days of gestation. Between the fourth and fifth month, this becomes possible only for therapeutic reasons. However, access to the right enshrined in this law is complex 69% of Italian gynecologists are in fact conscientious objectors, which means they refuse to perform voluntary terminations of pregnancy. This translates into 35.1 percent of facilities with a gynecology or obstetrics department where abortion cannot be accessed.
The position of secular and Catholic bioethics regarding this procedure could not be more opposite. According to the “New manifesto for Secular Bioethics“ (2007): “We believe that there should be the widest access to the various forms of birth control, starting with voluntary contraception and sterilization and ending with the new forms to block the reproductive process, from emergency contraception to new modes of abortion. We identify the obstacles placed in the way of emergency contraception (“morning-after pill”) as real attacks on women’s right to self-determination and a detriment to the country”.
For Catholic bioethics, on the other hand, abortion is murder. This is because the zygote, the first cell resulting from the meeting of sperm and egg, is a human being with full dignity. Termination of pregnancy should not be permissible even when there is a serious risk to the health of the mother.
Euthanasia is illegal in Italy. Even if the patient consents, it falls under Article 579 of the Penal Code (Murder of the consenting person), punishable by imprisonment from 6 to 15 years. As for assisted suicide, on the other hand, according to of the Penal Code (Instigation or aiding and abetting suicide), the punishment ranges from 5 to 12 years. Only recently, thanks to Constitutional Court ruling 242/2019, in Italy, it is possible to request physician-assisted suicide through indirect assistance in dying by a physician. This is done through suspension of treatment. Therefore, it only applies to individuals kept alive artificially.
Following the principles of individual freedom, quality and sanctity of life, secular bioethics actively supports the ethical right to the legal right to die. Quoting again from the “New manifesto for Secular Bioethics“: “We also reject suffering inflicted unnecessarily, the sublimation of pain as a meaningful experience in itself, the prolongation of mere biological life when all prospect of recovery or return to conscious life has failed. But we also claim the right to voluntary euthanasia, that is, the request of the individual to end his or her own life in order to avoid forms of existence that are painful or deemed undignified in themselves. “
Catholic bioethics, on the other hand, affirms that since the right to safeguard life is paramount, the choice to terminate it is not available to man. Only God can decide when to end a life. Euthanasia, like abortion, is against nature.
Finally, what is the situation in Italy regarding cryonics? Currently there is no specific law against or in favor of human cryopreservation. As for Tomorrow Biostasis, by signing the Biostasis contract during the registration process, you agree to donate your body to scientific research. In Italy, donating your own body has only been legal since Jan. 29, 2020, thanks to the “Disposition of one’s own postmortem body for purposes of study and research“ provision. Previously, the use of bodies and tissues was allowed only in specific cases.
Although the possibility of being cryopreserved has existed for over 50 years, no European country has yet produced specific laws on the subject. Even bioethics, both secular and Christian, has not yet addressed the topic. Will this change as the biostasis community grows in Italy? We expect that secular bioethics, following the principle of individual autonomy and freedom, will see no problem in an individual’s choice to be cryopreserved. As for Catholic bioethics, the answer is a bit more complex. At present, cryopreservation is legally seen as the donation of one’s body for the purpose of study. The Church’s position on this is quite clear: “Organ donation after death is a noble and meritorious act and is to be encouraged as a manifestation of generous solidarity.” (CCC 2296).
The fact that this research might in the future make us able to temporarily defeat death is something that has not yet been addressed. We will see if the Church will accept this new life-saving technology, as it did for CPR or organ transplantation. Or, whether it will oppose it, according to the principle that only God can decide how to dispose of human life.
As evident from the issues addressed above, the positions of secular and Catholic bioethics are often divergent. The resulting bills sometimes follow one and sometimes the other line of thought. In some cases, there is an attempt to combine the two thoughts. There should be more open communication for the Italian population. Who often find themselves having to decide “which side to be on”.
Technology is changing the world we live in. As the existence of the Christian Transhumanist Association shows us, religious principles can find points of encounter and mutual growth with emerging technologies. Quoting one of the principles of this association: “We acknowledge science and technology as tangible expressions of our God-given impulse to explore and discover and as a natural consequence of being created in God’s image”.
At Tomorrow Biostasis, we believe that everyone should be able to choose freely. Religious belief can coexist with the possibility of treating one’s illnesses and obtaining prolonged life in the future.
If you found this topic interesting, and would like to learn more about cryopreservation, book a call with a member of our team!
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