Perspectives of Catholic Communicators on Recent Advances in Genetic Engineering and its Bioethical Concerns

Abstract

Innovations in genetic engineering have created opportunities for converting myths to realities; the most recent among them being the claim ‘death optional by 2045’. This article recounts the benefits of genetic engineering, the bioethical concerns procreated by its recent advances and the Catholic viewpoints on these apprehensions. The Catholic perspective on frontier life sciences is critically open and it keeps itself on par with advancements in life-sciences. It welcomes the changes for progress, without engendering any conflict with the essence of life. In this context, it is noteworthy that man ‘playing God’ is unacceptable as the Church teaches that men and women are to ‘accept human life in its concrete historical finite nature’. Thus, altering the human constitution to make death an optional choice is disrespecting the essential human nature. A meaningful conversation between science and religious ethics will be an ambitious but unavoidable footstep in resolving these bioethical concerns.