• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Vatican Document Condemns Cloning, Embryo Stem Cell Research

Posted on: Friday, 12 December 2008, 14:09 CST

The Vatican released a bioethics document on Friday officially updating its opposition to embryonic stem-cell research, in-vitro fertilization and human cloning.

The document also said it approved of some forms of gene therapy and encouraged stem cell research using adult cells. And it said parents could in good conscience inoculate their children with vaccines produced with cells derived from aborted fetuses.

Many in the religious sects awaited a more official ruling on new drugs that block pregnancy from taking hold.

Several of these controversial drugs like the so-called "morning-after pill" and RU-486, which blocks the action of hormones needed to keep a fertilized egg implanted in the uterus, as well as the IUD (intrauterine device), which has been in use for decades, were deemed to fall "within the sin of abortion" and are gravely immoral.

The document, by far the most authoritative of its kind from the Vatican in 20 years, said human life deserved respect "from the very first stages of its existence (and) can never be reduced merely to a group of cells."

The Vatican's overall position is formed by its belief that human life begins at conception, and must be afforded all the consequent respect and dignity from that moment on.

The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith's document, approved by Pope Benedict who headed the same office before his election in 2005, said: "The human embryo has, therefore, from the very beginning, the dignity proper to a person."

On the subject of artificial fertilization, the Vatican said they "are to be excluded" because "they substitute for the conjugal act ... which alone is truly worthy of responsible procreation."

In-vitro fertilization was condemned, as it said the techniques "proceed as if the human embryo were simply a mass of cells to be used, selected and discarded."

The Vatican document elaborated on a host of issues surrounding assisted fertility, saying it:

• Opposed the selective reduction of embryos often used in in vitro procedures since it essentially is abortion.
• Opposed pre-implantation diagnosis of embryos since it may be followed by the destruction of those embryos deemed defective or otherwise undesirable.
• Opposed freezing embryos, since it is "incompatible with the respect owed to human embryos" and also means they were created in vitro.

While freezing eggs is not in itself immoral, it becomes unacceptable when it occurs for the sake of artificial procreation, it stated.

The document also defended the Roman Catholic Church's right to intervene on such matters.

"There are those who say that the moral teaching of the Church contains too many prohibitions. In reality, however, her teaching is based on the recognition and promotion of all the gifts which the Creator has bestowed on man: such as life, knowledge, freedom and love," it said.

---

On the Net:

Vatican

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

More News in this Category