Pope Benedict XVI greets meeting on Global Emergencies

(26 Aug. 2006) : Greeting some 100 scientists from 26 countries gathered for the 36^th Erice International Seminar on Planetary Emergencies in Sicily, Pope Benedict expressed hope that the working sessions held from Aug 19k to 24^th were successful. In a telegram signed by the Vatican secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, and addressed to Antonino Zichichi, the president of the World Federation Scientists and also the director of Ettore Majorana Center, Pope Benedict assured the event’s organizers and participants of his prayers and sent his apostolic blessing.
Scientist Zichichi, who is also a member of the Pointical Academy of Sciences, said in his comments to Vatican Radio, that "the scientists in Erice want the greater public to understand that we are all embarked on the same spaceship. It is our duty to defend it. The cultural emergency is one of the most devastating consequences. The most dramatic is terrorism, which sets us back centuries," he said. "Hundreds of millions of people enter the energy market every year, as all want to live better. We are devourers of energy. We must come to an agreement so that the atmosphere will not be turned into a gas chamber," he added. In order to decrease contamination, the seminar studied the possibility of developing fourth generation nuclear plants. Other areas of study included the risks resulting from recent Internet developments and possible epidemics through mutations of existing viruses.