Biotechnology serves the common good, said Katalin Karikó. A professor at the University of Szeged, a member of several academies, gave a presentation at the conference entitled “Approaching the individual – New technologies for the common good”. Pope Francis welcomed the participants of the scientific program held in the Vatican in an audience.
On the occasion of the 28th General Assembly of the Vatican Pontifica Academia for Life, February 20-21, 2023. A conference was held in the Vatican under the title “Approaching the individual – New technologies for the common good”. After the turn of the millennium, the so-called emerging new technologies, i.e. nano- and biotechnology, information and communication technology, robotics, and cognitive science, appeared with novelties affecting everyday life. These are suitable for improving human abilities, and encouraging development while interfering so deeply in the living organism that their results raise serious ethical questions.
The protection of privacy, data management, the relationship between the individual and society, the central role of the person within the community – all are ethical aspects of “convergence”. The main question of the investigation is how technologies can approach the person as a person and the community of people.
It was organized by the Pontifical Academy for Life on February 20-21, 2023, in the context of an interdisciplinary approach to the issue. the conference, whose participants were welcomed by the Holy Father in an audience. In his greeting, Pope Francis highlighted: the analysis of the relationship between the person, emerging technologies and the common good is “a delicate area where progress, ethics and society meet, and where faith, in its eternal validity, can make a valuable contribution”.
The Pope reflected on challenges in his speech. He spoke about the changing conditions of human life in the world of technology. He explained his position on how new technology affects the definition of the concept of “man” and “relationship”, with particular regard to the situation of the most vulnerable. He emphasized the impact of the conceptual change of “knowledge”.
Among others, Katalin Karikó, the Szeged university professor who gave a presentation at the conference, and her family members appeared in the audience of Pope Francis. Katalin Karikó, her daughter Zsuzsanna Francia and her grandchildren also received a papal blessing.
Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and other academies, professor and alumna of the University of Szeged, Katalin Karikó gave the opening lecture of the second part of the Vatican conference. Among others, in the company of Mauro Ferrari, the versatile Italian inventor and writer, as well as Italian philosopher Mauro Ceruti and Hungarian lawyer and bioethicist Judit Sándor.
Katalin Karikó enthusiastically presented the novelties of her research field under the title “Convergent technologies from the point of view of biotechnology”. Through the steps of ‘discovery’, ‘new technology’, ‘testing’, ‘application’, and ‘new technology’, he presented the route of adoption by academia, biotech companies, large corporations and society. Among the new biotechnologies, Katalin Karikó singled out genome editing technologies, cell and gene therapies, and RNA technologies.
Among the areas affected by new biotechnologies, he outlined the impact of genome editing, RNA therapy, and cell and gene therapy technologies. He highlighted the effects on the treatment of human diseases, animal husbandry, and the importance of vaccinations. He spoke in detail about mRNA-based technology.
Katalin Karikó also addressed the difficulties of scientific dissemination in her presentation. Referring to concerns, skepticism, uncertainties about vaccines, and the fight against misinformation, he drew attention to the ratio of risks and benefits. The world-renowned researcher emphasized: biotechnology serves the common good.
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