Archbishop Charles Scicluna has once again warned against hasty decisions on the introduction of assisted reproductive technologies, which may create “designer orphans”.

In his homily during a Mass ushering in the New Year, Mgr. Scicluna expressed concern that such technologies were commercialising procreation.

“We should protect life from its very beginning and accept it as a gift. It is through such technologies that we could create designer orphans; a technology that does not permit a person to know who his mother or father is. Do we want to go there as a society? Do we want to create orphans?” he asked.

“For us, as a community united in faith, life remains a gift. Before taking important decisions that will affect future generations, we should stop to think about the consequences of our actions.”

We need to help people be on the alert for God’s surprises

Bishop of Gozo Mario Grech called on Christians to focus on being witnesses of the gospel.

He said Christians should not waste time on criticising or condemning society or expect to dictate which laws should be enacted or which reforms to pursue because they should concentrate on being witnesses of the gospel.

In his homily for the New Year, Bishop Grech said people ought to help society see the presence of God in everything.

“A society that is marginalising God does not want anyone lecturing it on behalf of God. But we believers know that we will be helping lay society see God in unexpected places – we need to help people be on the alert for God’s surprises,” he said.

The subject of assisted reproductive technologies was also ad-dressed by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat in his New Year message.

“We will give all possible means to two people who love each other to have a chance to raise their own child and not just imagine holding in their arms a child they could call son or daughter, all of this because of barriers that we politicians can fix,” he said.