Revision as of 16:26, 14 June 2005

Description of the Conference

The Conference on Non-Human Sentience, was called by Leo XIV in the Apostolic Letter "Sapientum Concilium". In the Letter, Leo explains his reasons, among them "We have been requested to issue Decretals upon these matters, and upon our desk are more than a dozen solicitations for rescripts with respect to individual Bishops and Ordinaries’ decisions relating to non-humans. Suggestions have been made that a full Apostolic Constitution is required to guide the Church in this matter. In this we concur. Yet we would not proceed in such a momentous matter without the assistance and wisdom of the Church’s Bishops, scholars, and theologians."

He also refers, in relatively dry terms, to the last Vatican attempt to deal with the matter. A juicier description can be found in the account of journalist David Tedeschi, who was present at that Sixtus' Council.

A General Overview of the Conference:

• The Conference will take place at the newly-renovated and expanded Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, in Rome.
• The Conference will be scheduled over three consecutive years, with General Sessions interspersed with Committee work, and recesses for Delegates to return to their diocese and institutions for consultation and visitation.
• Conference attendees will each be assigned status according to their role as approved by the Conference Committee:
  • Delegates will be seated on the floor during Plenary Sessions, will be permitted to vote, and will be permitted to formally submit reports, recommendations and requests for consideration by the Conference.
  • Advisors will be provided gallery seating, will be permitted to serve on Committees as requested, and can request the privilege of addressing the Conference at the discretion of the President, Proctor, and Convenor. They are empowered to vote or to make recommendations, reports, or requests.
  • Observers will be provided gallery seating, and can be requested by Committee Convenors or the Conference Convenor to comment upon matters under discussion at the Convenor's discretion.
• Only Catholic Ordinaries (Bishops, Archbishops, Abbots/Abbesses, Presidents of Orders, Congregations, or Catholic Universities) are eligible to have their qualifications and requests for Delegate status reviewed.
• The strictest formal protocol will obtain during all General Sessions, with the Holy Father present both for the Opening and the Final Report of the Conference. A less-formal but strictly-enforced protocol will prevail in Committees.
• Committees have been established in advance of the Conference by the Conference Organizing Committee, and Convenors would be selected from among Delegates expressing an interest in the Committee by the Holy Father.
• All Recommendations, and the Final Report of the Conference, will be formally submitted to the Holy Father under the Seal of the Conference, by supermajority vote of the Plenary Session. Minority and dissenting reports could be submitted, but without the Seal of the Conference.

Constitution and Rules

In order to ensure smooth running of the Conference, all attendees and delegates should read the Constitution and the Rules.

Officers

Conference Schedule

The Conference is scheduled to take place over three years. General Sessions of forty days will alternate with Committee sessions, with a recess at the end of each year. No sessions (of course, on Sundays and holy days.

Conference Committees

Each Conference Committee has been given a set of key questions to examine and answer, in the form of a Declaration, with recommendations. Other questions are expected to be proposed and delegated to the Committees during the General Sessions of the Conference

Committee on Science

• Is there more than one variety or nature of sentience? If so, what is the nature of the differences?
• Is there an inextricable relationship between sentience and the organic function of DNA? Is any form of organic sentience independent of a mechanism analogous to DNA?
• What biological conditions or processes must be present for sentience to exist? Are there any biological conditions or processes that preclude the existence of sentience?

Committee on Ontology

• Based on existing magisterium and doctrine, what can reasonably be inferred about the role of non-human sentience in God’s Plan?
• What is the role of non-human biology in the Divine Plan? What importance does the nature of specific differences such as reproduction, physical capabilities, lifespan, etc. have in the relationship between humans and non-humans in the Divine Plan? Which differences are significant, and in what nature and degree, and which are not significant?
• Does non-human sentience share in the dignity of the person? Is Natural Moral Law applicable equally to human and non-human sentience? Are the sources of morality for the acts of non-human sentients the same as the sources for humans? Is the nature of Virtue for non-human sentients the same as for humans?

Committee on Non-human Theology

• Do the theological and ontological constructs (religions, faiths, etc.,) of non-human sentient species represent valid evidence of Divine Plan? Are such constructs evidence of mutually exclusive tracks of the Divine Plan, or of parallel tracks?
• Are the theological and ontological constructs of non-human species related to Christian theology? If so, what is the role of such constructs in relationship to the Divine Plan?
• Are non-human sentient individuals given by Diving Plan the freedom to choose their faith? Are any or all such choices equally valid? Is the desire of non-human sentients for salvation through Christ’s sacrifice and union with the Church evidence of the validity of such a faith for non-human sentient individuals?

Committee on Catholic Doctrine

• Is it possible for a non-human sentient individual to feel a desire for salvation in Christ and communion with the Church? Is desire for salvation in Christ and communion with the Church sufficient to indicate the working of the Holy Spirit within a sentient individual? If so, may such working provide sufficient justification to receive that individual into the Church through Baptism? How may the actuality of such a desire be manifested?
• If Baptism is extended to a sentient individual, is the Church required to receive that individual into the other Sacraments of Christian Initiation (Confirmation, and the Eucharist)?
• May the Sacraments of Healing (Penance and Reconciliation, the Anointing of the Sick) be extended to non-human sentient individuals? If so, what is required on the part of the individual, and the minister, for Sacramental validity?
• May the Sacraments at the Service of Communion (Matrimony, Holy Orders,) be extended to non-human sentient individuals? If so, what is required on the part of the individual, and the minister, for Sacramental validity?
• May the Sacrament of Matrimony be contracted between sentient individuals of differing species, if they are mutually fertile? If they are mutually infertile?

Committee Rules

Committee Convenors

Conference Delegates

Conference Documents

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