Many consider faith and science to be in conflict, some even believing them to be incompatible with each other. This view, at least from a historical perspective, is reductive, given that it was the Christian West that developed the scientific method, albeit or perhaps because of complex debates. Science as we know it today would not have been possible without the universities that have been supported for centuries by the Church in its constant concern to harmonise the data of Reason with those of Revelation
Today, science and technology have taken a prominent place in our lives. On the one hand, scientific and technological progress, despite considerable inequalities, has ensured a better standard of living and a higher life expectancy for humanity. On the other hand, it has raised ethical and anthropological questions of epochal significance. So much so that the fields called NBICS – Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information Technology and Cognitive Sciences – propose a future with the possibility of transforming our very nature.
The Dicastery for Culture and Education does not claim to provide answers to all these questions, but rather to offer opportunities for reflection and dialogue so that future choices in the scientific fields are fully informed and always made with the human person at the centre.