INTRODUCTION

Pope Pius Ⅻ's (b. 1876; r. 1939–1958) address in 1944 to the Italian Medical-biological Union of St. Luke, an exclusively Roman Catholic audience, is a concise summary of many aspects of Roman Catholic medical ethics as they had evolved up his time, which he supported philosophically by arguments from natural law, explicated theologically from Scripture and Tradition, and elaborated with deep pastoral concern (Papal Teachings 1960, 51–65). He introduced his allocution with an anecdote: “Your presence, beloved sons, brings to mind a scene enacted in Paris in December, 1804. In the Grand Hall of the Louvre, when numerous delegations crowded to render homage to the Vicar of Christ and to receive his blessing, five young doctors …were introduced to the Sovereign Pontiff, Pius Ⅶ. The Pope could not disguise a reaction of surprise: ‘Oh!’ he said laughingly, ‘Medicus pius, res miranda!’”

This exclamation of a pope 140 years earlier – “A pious physician – what an amazing thing!” – echoed an adage from the Middle Ages, “Ubi tres medici, ibi duo athei” (“Where there are three physicians there are two atheists”). The warnings of the lure of scientific naturalism as a danger to which physicians are especially susceptible have been reiterated throughout the history of the Church. Furthermore, that medicine may be employed as much to evil as to good ends had been a concern of the Church Fathers (see Chapter 12) and has been a focal point of Roman Catholic medical ethics.