Bioethics, technology and human dignity: the Roman Catholic viewpoint.

Many important questions dealing with human dignity in medical research are raised by new medical technologies. The paper presents the Roman Catholic approach to the use of new technologies, the research on human embryos, the ethical aspects of studies on human genome. The concept of "human ecology", as proposed by John Paul II, is to reconcile human dignity, the academic freedom of research, the sacredness of life understood as its quality so important for the cultural growth of Homo sapiens. To protect human ecology it is our moral duty to defend human dignity and to recognize the importance of those values that are fundamental in the process of development of human species.