In our previous post on the International Bioethics Conference, titled “the Perspectives of Bioethics. Current Challenges and Future Predictions,” held at the Alfonsiana Academy on March 17 and 18, 2026, we discussed the presentations by Msgr. R. Pegoraro and Professors H. ten Have and M. P. Faggioni. They precisely framed the current crisis in bioethics and expertly charted the way forward.
The conference then continued with a series of interviews and presentations. Taken together, the various contributions might appear, at first glance, to be a simple list of both particularly novel areas and existential contexts different from those we typically address in “classical bioethics.”
The discussions between Professors Giovanni Di Pino (Campus Biomedico University, Rome) and Andrea Pizzichini (Alphonsian Academy) on brain-computer interfaces would appear to fall into the first category; the one between Professors Carlo Casalone (Pontifical Gregorian University) and Giovanni Del Missier (Alphonsian Academy) regarding end-of-life issues; and the dialogue between Professor Susy Zanardo (European University, Rome) and Professor Roberto Massaro (Alfonsiana Academy) on the controversial topic of surrogacy.
The second category would include interviews conducted by Argentinean doctor Marcela Lapalma and professors Syméon Djiwa (Alphonsian Academy, Togolese) and Andrzej S. Wodka, on the specifics of women’s bioethics in Latin America, Africa, and within Orthodox Christianity; as well as the presentations by Professor Vimal Tirimanna (Alphonsian Academy, Sri Lankan) on Asian bioethics, and Professor Ilenya Goss (University of Turin – Pastora) on the Protestant perspective.
However, to grasp the real value of these interventions as a whole, I would like to take the liberty of recalling some of the ideas that emerged in the two master lectures we discussed in the first part of this report .
Professor H. ten Have indicated that the way out of the bioethics crisis was a transformation based on a change of perspective, a broadening of horizons, an attention to history, and a renewed relationship with reality.
Professor MP Faggioni, in presenting his ethical reflection on transhumanism, confronted us with the need for bioethicists to be open to a true conversion: leaving behind the patterns, approaches, and perspectives that have “for a long time” shaped ethics’s view of life in the world, to open up to new ways of developing the discipline.
By accepting the contributions mentioned above in this light, we realize that they have offered us the opportunity to frame the therapeutic strategy based on the etiological diagnosis of the master lectures, capable of addressing the causes of bioethics’ “terminal comatose state.” This is a comforting observation, since, as Msgr. R. Pegoraro emphasized, only by addressing the causes can bioethics be restored to full health.
Indeed, what was proposed to us proved to be the opportunity to acknowledge what we had failed to do: we had not listened to history; we had not consulted other cultures; we had not engaged in dialogue with other religions and faiths; we had not allowed other disciplines to teach us what they could have; we had not truly delved into the real experiences of individuals, communities, and peoples… or we had not done so sufficiently.
The strength of etiological therapy lies in the fact that, by addressing the causes, it can eradicate the disease at its root, allowing for a recovery of health. This means that the bioethical crisis is not a dead end: the path to escape exists and has been shown to us. We must return to a global bioethics!!!
Although, according to the brilliant insight of a student present at the conference, it would be better to speak of a harmonious bioethics, since the adjective “global” risks suggesting a monolithic bioethics, in which, once again, only the voice of the strongest will count. Certainly, the important thing is to agree on concepts; however, the effort to also find words and languages that avoid misunderstandings contributes to the possibility of reviving bioethics as a bridge, not only between present and future, but also between cultures, disciplines, tradition and innovation.
A. Cardullo (www.alfonsiana.org)
Videos of the speeches are available on the Accademia Alfonsiana YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9ZBaPl274GsJ0M8YebTBJxt4S7U4OxuI
