Posted on 01/31/2008 1:34:58 PM PST by NYer
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said on Thursday that embryonic stem cell research, artificial insemination and the prospect of human cloning had "shattered" human dignity.
In an address to members of the Vatican department on doctrinal matters, Benedict said the Church had a duty to defend the "great values at stake" in the field of bioethics.
The speech was the latest in a series in which the conservative Pope has told his listeners that scientific progress should not be accepted uncritically.
Benedict, who headed the same department for years before his election in 2005, said the Church was not against scientific progress but wanted it based on "ethical-moral principles."
He said this included total respect for the human being as a person "from conception until natural death," and respect for the natural transmission of life through sexual intercourse.
Practices like freezing embryos, suppression of embryos in multiple pregnancies, embryonic stem cell research, the prospect of human cloning and artificial insemination outside the body had "shattered the barriers meant to protect human dignity," he said.
"When human beings in the weakest and most defenseless state of their existence are selected, abandoned, killed or used as pure 'biological material,' how can one deny that they are being treated not as 'someone' but as 'something,"' he said.
Such practices "questioned the very concept of the dignity of man," he said in the speech to the department known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Widespread interest in medicine by the general public, who get most of their information from the media, had made it even more imperative for the Church to take a stand, he said.
Embryonic stem cell research involves the destruction of embryos. Scientists hope to use stem cells to transform medicine, providing regenerative treatments for injuries and seeking new insights into diseases like cancer and AIDS.
Last year scientists reported they had tricked ordinary skin cells into behaving like embryonic stem cells.
The Pope said the Church "appreciates and encourages" research on stem cells that come from other parts of the body and do not involve embryos or their destruction.
He rejected accusations from critics who say the Church is an obstacle to science and human progress, saying growing concern about cloning and other practices showed it was right to raise the alarm.
It was the Pope's latest foray into scientific issues. On Monday he warned against the "seductive" powers of science, saying it was important that science did not become the sole criteria for goodness.
U.S. Cardinal William Levada, Benedict's successor as head of the doctrinal department, said it was mulling the possibility of preparing a new Vatican document on bioethical issues.
Speaking of, Scientific America seems to be trying to trick us into thinking that the pope is against science.
If you know what it is, use it in a sentence. :)
What is science?
What is ethics?
What is a tool?
What is a devil?
Okay.
God conferred dignity upon mankind in making him imago Dei, in His image and reflection; that is, by endowing him with reason and free will. It is this divinely-conferred dignity that justifies the Bible's teaching that God regards each and every human person as sacred. Each of us is called do the same.Will that do?
It will do if you are happy with it. You are happy with it, aren’t you?
I am completely satisfied with it, because I believe it is the absolute Truth.
The problem the atheist has, though it goes unacknowledged, is that without God there is no foundation for human thought, no firm Rock on which to stand.
Well, happiness and satisfaction are different things, but to some degree either will do in this imperfect world. Free will is dignity. Interesting. Concepts have dignity, too, but without free will.
How can a concept have dignity? On what basis?
Concepts are the products of free will -- of a free, unfettered intellect (reason, the other endowment of dignity). If a concept was not born in this way, then it's just an empty slogan, so much propaganda.
Can’t read Kant without getting this.
I don't always agree with Kant.
LOL
:^)
I thought the reporter did a fairly balanced job in the article, but that the editor who wrote the headline was trying to snipe at Pope Benedict.
I really dislike it when editors do that. I think that whatever way the article goes, the editor's headline should mimic the article's take.
Pascal—no mean scientist—said that scientists should not say things that are not clear.. Long ago the SA decided to publish what is unclear. .
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