Pope Benedict XVI praised genetic science at a conference at the Vatican on Saturday.

He said such research had led to improvements in medicine and added that the human genome “allowed a glimpse of the possibility of new conquests”. However he also warned of the dangers of using genetics to discriminate.

“From the time that the laws of heredity were discovered in the middle of the 19th century by the Augustinian abbot Gregor Mendel, who has been considered the founder of genetics, this science has truly taken giant steps in understanding the language at the basis of biological information, which determines the development of a living being,” he said (transcript via Zenit).

“… This knowledge, the fruit of the genius and toil of countless scholars, make it possible to more easily arrive at not only a more effective and early diagnosis of genetic maladies, but also to create therapies to alleviate the contraction of illnesses and, in some cases, to restore, in the end, the hope of regaining health.”

On a less positive note, the pope said that “all forms of discrimination exercised by any one power over persons or populations based on real or presumed genetic factors is an attack on all of humanity” (Vatican Radio). According to AP, he again cautioned against pre-implantation screening of embryos for conditions such as cystic fibrosis.

Reuters quotes him as saying: “Certainly, the eugenistic and racial ideologies that in the past humiliated man and provoked immense suffering are not being proposed again, but a new mentality is creeping in that tends to justify a different consideration of life and personal dignity.”

Image: via Wikipedia under creative commons.