Sometimes it is wrongly said that the Catholic Church opposes stem cell
research. In fact, the Church supports ethically responsible stem cell
research, while opposing any research that exploits or destroys human
embryos.
Because
the Church opposes deliberately destroying innocent human life at any
stage, for research or any other purpose, it opposes embryonic stem cell
research as currently conducted. However, when scientists proposed
avenues for possibly obtaining embryonic stem cells or their pluripotent
equivalent without creating or harming embryos, Catholic leaders were
among the first to welcome this idea:
www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1435477/posts.
The Catholic Church has
long supported research using stem cells from adult tissue and umbilical
cord blood, which poses no moral problem. Catholic institutions at times
have taken the lead in promoting such constructive research, which is
already providing cures and treatments for suffering patients:
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In
October 2005, the Catholic bishops of South Korea said they will
raise and donate about $10 million to advancing adult stem cell
research:
www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2005/10/06/2003274635
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South Korea's Catholic Medical Centre announced in June 2005 that it
had successfully treated stroke and vascular disease in 64 patients
using adult stem cells:
www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=3491
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A
March 2005 breakthrough demonstrating the capabilities of adult stem
cells in Australia was made possible by a grant of $50,000
(Australian dollars) from the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney:
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/03/21/australia.stemcell/
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In
February 2005 a major Catholic teaching hospital in Boston, Caritas
St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, announced that it had “identified
adult stem cells that may have the capacity to repair and regenerate
all tissue types in the body”:
www.caritas-semc.org/home/site_content_list_detail.asp?s=2328&ss=324
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Throughout 2005 the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has worked
to pass federal legislation creating a nationwide public bank for
umbilical cord blood stem cells, for research and the treatment of a
wide variety of diseases:
www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2005/05-159.shtml
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In
2004 Monsignor Thomas Hartman, director of radio and television for
the Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, founded The Thomas Hartman
Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. The foundation has raised
millions of dollars for adult stem cell research and other avenues
for curing Parkinson’s disease:
www.hartmanfoundation.org.
Clearly, the Church
favors ethically acceptable stem cell research. It opposes destroying
some human lives now, on the pretext that this may possibly help other
lives in the future. We must respect life at all times, especially when
our goal is to save lives.
Contact: Michael
Sheedy, Associate Director for Health,
msheedy@flacathconf.org, 850-205-6824.
