Romana

During the second semester of 2011, the Estela Cultural Center organized its “First Symposium on Bioethics,” aimed especially at professionals in the fields of health and law. This is the first in a series of conferences scheduled to be held each year. The series seeks to provide guidance on the principles of natural law and Christian morality in problems related to bioethics.

Dr. Ieda T. Verreschi, Academic Director of the Federal University of São Paulo and a member of São Paulo’s Regional Medical Council, was the sponsor for this year’s symposium. Coordination was handled by Dr. Marilia de Siqueira, a specialist in gynecology and obstetrics. The visiting lecturer was Dr. Elisabeth Kipman Cerqueira, director of the “Jacarei Interdisciplinary Center of Bioethical Studies” in São Paulo.

The lectures focused on a personalist bioethics and the dignity of women, and on the recourse to conscientious objection in certain cases.