Pope Benedict said on Monday that science might be seductive but it must not be seen as the only yardstick for judging good and evil.
Science can never define what a human being is, the pontiff said in remarks which had extra resonance in the wake of recent polemics over his cancelled visit to Rome's biggest university.
In a time when ''the advance of science attracts and seduces through the possibilities it offers'', it is important to ''educate the consciences of our contemporaries so that science doesn't become the criterion of good,'' he said.
The 80-year-old pontiff was speaking to the participants of a scientific conference organised by the Vatican last week.
''Man is not the fruit of chance, or of a bundle of convergences, or of determinisms, or of physical-chemical interactions. He is a creature who enjoys freedom, which transcends his nature,'' he said.
The pope's alleged hostility to the freedom of scientific research was behind protests earlier this month by some of the staff and students at Rome's La Sapienza university.
Benedict, who had been scheduled to attend the opening of the academic year, decided not to attend, sparking widespread controversy and rekindling debate over the relationship between religion and science.
