The two-day meeting, entitled "Family and Human Relations: Existential Bioethics", will begin with a 45-minute introductory lecture by the President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, on "The Biblical and Socio-Religious Roots of the Family: The Challenge of Modernity", at 9:15 am, on Friday, December 5th.

This scientific interconfessional conference wants to make a specialized contribution to the cause of the family between the two Synods on the family, the Extraordinary Synod (that has just ended) and the Ordinary Synod (which will be celebrated next year from 4 to 25 October), and respond to the challenges, on one hand, from unprecedented assertions concerning international rights and freedoms, and, on the other, from the difficulty of the reflection and enculturation of bioethical issues. The scholars, researchers and pastors who will speak at the Pontifical Athenaeum of St. Anselm will therefore all be called to contribute their own scientific viewpoint, promoting the dignity of the human person and the sensum fidei of the faithful, thus helping them, through their observations, to come to greater clarity in their minds about the true nature of the family and its rights, so that they may confront with greater awareness and determination every attempt of ideological coercion.