Pope Denounces Some Biotech as Affront to 'Human Dignity'

eldavojohn writes "Today in a speech the pope denounced human cloning, embryonic stem cell research and artificial insemination, citing them as a violation of 'human dignity.' That said, the pope did 'appreciate and encourage' research on stem cells from non-embryonic cells in the human body. The pope encouraged the Vatican to be a leading voice in the philosophy and discussion of bioethics. 'Church teaching certainly cannot and must not weigh in on every novelty of science, but it has the task to reiterate the great values which are on the line and to propose to faithful and all men of good will ethical-moral principles and direction for new, important questions,' Benedict said."

Comments

LISTEN TO THE POPE!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Please listen to what the Pope is saying!!! I'm Catholic and I strongly believe the Pope is right! He's always right! Humans shouldn't play God. Please listen to the Pope and just stop what you're doing!! :(

As a former Catholic and current geek,

[krog]

I gotta say: if this is the first, or second, or tenth issue that "is gonna cause some serious headaches for you at church", you aren't paying very close attention.

Re:As a former Catholic and current geek,

[Anonymous Coward]

"I have a headache" is what I tell my priest when he wants to spend some quality alter time with me.

Ethics?

[Plazmid]

Ethics? We don't need no steenkin' ethics!

Re:On behalf of all geek catholics..

[dcollins]

Hey, the guy quotes something God "said" in his sig. Maybe he's hearing voices.

Re:On behalf of all geek catholics..

[hostyle]

In other news: Science denounces some pope as 'irrelevant theorist'

Re:Mod parent down! (generalization = straw man)

[Intron]

"You'd be a wonderful Fox News reporter."

Oh sure, accuse someone else of making blanket statements and then come out with this. You can't claim that all Fox News reporters are biased, rating-driven, spittle-faced lunatics just because 99% are.

Re:On behalf of all geek catholics..

[sm62704]

That brings to mind two versions of an old joke.
----
A priest, a rabbi, and a lawyer are on the titanic when it strikes an iceberg.
The rabbi exclaims "save the children!"
The lawyer snarls "fuck the children!"
The priest exclaims "no time for that!"
----
A priest and a rabbi see a homeless child hudddled in a doorway shivering. The rabbi says "oh dear, what should we do for this poor child?"

The priest says "easy, take him home and fuck him!"
The rabbi says "out of what?"
----
PLEASE mod this disgusting comment down! Think of the children!

Baby can't even talk yet when it usually happens.

[Scrameustache]

we have individually chosen to believe (which ought to be in unison with every other Catholic). It is a large organization, but not one based on slavery (like the Borg) but one based on a personal choice. How old were you when you were baptized?

Re:Individually chosen to believe?

[THE anonymus coward]

The greatest evidence that the God of Abraham exists lies in the fact that I don't see Hittites or Jebusites or Perizites wandering around New York.

Re:How about silence?

[DragonWriter]

Perhaps not a pope, but the Congregation of the Doctrine of the faith did. Donum Vitae, Feb 22, 1987.

It is so surprising that Pope Benedict XVI would criticize the same thing, and on the same basis, that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had previously criticized under its then-Prefect, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger.

Re:Affront to Human Dignity?

[Danny Rathjens]

One time I was at a boy scout event in Miami Beach and an old lady fondly said how we looked like the Hitler Youth in our uniforms.

Re:How about silence?

[TheDormouse]

What happens when the zygote later divides, to form identical twins? Does God intervene and inject a new soul into the womb?

Nope. One out of every set of twins doesn't have a soul. Everybody knows that.

Re:You missed the point

[Tom]

You're missing the point. The results of nuking the mantle are bad, but science can't show what's bad and why. Only if you fall into the same trap as every other geek (gosh isn't it getting crowded down there?) to limit "science" to the natural sciences only.

I know it's shocking, so take a seat, but there actually are sciences that explore this most unknown of all territories - the human being. No! I don't mean biology you sex-starved freak!