Vatican City, Sep 14 (IANS/AKI) Pope Benedict XVI has said that leaps in scientific capabilities have put humanity in a precarious situation that can lead to a wounding of human "integrity and dignity".

"We have the duty to diligently study up to what point these methods can help humans and where they amount to a manipulation of man, to a violation of his integrity and dignity," the pope said in a statement addressed to the new German ambassador to the Holy See.

"The new possibilities offered by biotechnology and medicine often put us in difficult situations in which we are walking on thin ice," Benedict said in the Italian text of the statement.

The pope said that these scientific developments should not be disregarded but humanity must be careful.

"Once you begin to discriminate ... between lives that are worth living and those that are not, no phase of life will be spared, even less so old age and illness," Benedict said.