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I am writing a story wherein a pill to increase empathy and awareness of your fellow human being is invented. I was wondering what the view of the Catholic church is on self-enhancement. I went to a catholic school all of my life and have read large parts of the Bible, but the most I got out of my limited education on the subject was that one should be cautious when adopting new technologies.

I did see a few questions on medication and seeking medical treatment, where the general consensus was that it depended on personal beliefs. I was wondering if there were any passages of the bible relevant to this or if the Catholic church has made any statement. I think this question is plausibly answerable considering the Catholic church has made statements about various other sci-fi phenomenon, such as the possibility of extra-terrestrials.

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As far as I know, the Church has no official policy on "self-enhancement". Medicine, even psychoactive medicine, in areas other than fertility and euthanasia is largely a secular issue. If your fictional drug appeared miraculous (read: unexplainable by science), then that might be a different matter. The power to perform miracles is, in Catholic doctrine, granted by God, and the Church might declare that such a drug is heretical or magical, and therefore sinful to use.

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