(Nov.03,2010) The president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry has
underlined the need for integrity in all professionals, especially medical doctors.
Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski made the call in a message sent for the annual educational
conference of the Catholic Medical Association in Seattle, Washington, U.S. The theme
of the recent conference was "Restoring the Integrity of Medicine: The Imperative
for a Christian Anthropology. The prelate affirmed that today, restoring integrity
is a felt need in all professions but it becomes more categorical when it concerns
a profession that deals with human life and health. He noted that progress in the
biological and medical sciences has opened up a wide range of effective therapeutic
possibilities and the variety of possibilities, exposes man to the temptation of
going beyond the limits of reasonable dominion over nature. It is therefore important
to remember, that scientific research and its application, ought to be given moral
evaluation in reference to the dignity of the human person," he added. Archbishop
Zimowski affirmed that as Catholic health care professionals, they should be well
aware that life and physical health are precious gifts entrusted to us by God, and
they must take reasonable care of them. The practice of medicine cannot be isolated
from this truth, he concluded.