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

Re:How about silence?

[MightyMartian]

Good for you. Thankfully your church doesn't run the world, so believe whatever is you like. Just as long as you don't decide to create a theocracy or fly planes into buildings, and respect the rights of non-Catholics, go about your business. No one is forcing you to conceive children in this fashion.

Re:As a former Catholic and current geek,

[syzler]

As a Catholic Geek who is big into both (I am studying to be a priest and I write software that will serve me as a Priest)

I am speechless and I take my hat off to you sir. It is refreshing to see interest in vocations coming from one within a group that more often than not believes in no higher being than themselves. I look forward to the day that I can call you father.

From one Catholic software developer to another:
            printf(
                  "%s\n",
                  (const char []) {
                        0x47, 0x6f, 0x64, 0x20,
                        0x62, 0x65, 0x20, 0x77,
                        0x69, 0x74, 0x68, 0x20,
                        0x79, 0x6f, 0x75, 0x00 }
            );