The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. George Carey, has called on surgeons to exercise fully "the gift of humility" in their professional life.

Speaking at a service in St Paul's Cathedral to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Royal College of Surgeons, the Archbishop said it was vital to restore full public confidence, which had been dented recently.

Dr Carey said:

"Surgeons work in the most demanding and pressurised situations imaginable. They operate at the frontiers of human existence, at the boundaries between life and death and at the limits of what humans know and what they can achieve.

That is part of the reason we honour and admire them-even hold them in awe. But that makes the gift of humility all the more vital. And there have been well-publicised occasions in recent times when it seems to have been lacking. At such times, public confidence can drain away and professional morale can plummet. There is no doubt that patients need surgeons, but surgeons undoubtedly need the trust and confidence of those they seek to serve. Recent events have made that painfully, crystal clear."

The Archbishop added:

"Openness and accountability are important. It must be recognised that we live in a society where people are no longer prepared to doff their cap towards authority in any walk of life-including I may say the religious life! Respect has to be earned and in many ways that is quite right. Anything that smacks of arrogance or high-handedness is unlikely to be productive."

Dr. Carey also called for humility and compassion from all working on the frontiers of medial science:

"Profound moral and ethical questions have to be confronted about how we use what we know. Especially when it affects our understanding of the fundamentals of human existence-our beginning and our end. Surgeons of course cannot escape such dilemmas or their consequences. The case of the twins Mary and Jodie, is evidence enough of that.

In all of these issues - from embryo research to the treatment of patients in a death-like state - the same virtues of humility and compassion must be our constant guide.

For they surely can help us plot a course between what we can do and what we should do, they can help us use aright the extraordinary gifts God has bestowed upon us."

Dr Carey also set the surgeon's calling in a spiritual context:

"For many surgeons down the centuries and still today, their vocation has been rooted in a profound, often religious, vision of human life. It is a vision of the nature and purpose of human life which fosters a sense of humility before God, as the source of life and the giver of all human endowments. It is a vision that also inspires the kind of compassion towards the sufferings of one's neighbour, immortalised in the story of the Good Samaritan."

In his address, the Archbishop referred specifically to yesterday's rail tragedy in Hertfordshire. He offered prayers and condolences for the victims and their families, and praised the selfless devotion and skill of the emergency and medical teams.