VALLETTA, February 7, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The three bishops of the tiny Catholic island state of Malta have called for the creation of a law on artificial reproduction that would rule out procedures such as in vitro fertilization that “go against human beings and against the family.”
Malta is 98% Catholic and the number of Maltese who attend Mass weekly is one of the highest among all Catholic countries at 67%. Divorce is illegal in Malta and a recent poll showed that 95.7% of Maltese oppose abortion.
The bishops of Malta, Archbishop Joseph Mercieca of Valletta, Gozo Bishop Nikol Cauchi and Auxiliary Bishop Annetto Depasquale, have written in a letter to Maltese legislators, “One of the main ethical problems with this technology is the large number of embryos which, after being fertilised artificially, are destined to die.”
“Embryos which are formed through assisted reproduction but are not utilised have also been used for research and have become subject to manipulation,” the bishops said.
The Catholic teaching on assisted procreation does not rule out medical interventions that assist natural conception. Surgical correction of reproductive organs and hormonal treatment to improve fertility are moral choices according to Catholic doctrine. However, the Church upholds moral prohibition, based on rational natural law ethics, against killing innocent human beings, and separating fertility from marital relations.
The bishops’ letter also pointed out the problem of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. In IVF procedures, more embryos are created than are wanted. “At this stage, human subjects that are diagnosed with abnormalities are eliminated. It is wrong to say that at this stage the embryo is not a human subject,” the bishops said.
The bishops concluded, “Our society is dominated by ethical pluralism, which creates confusion in the mind and makes it acceptable for people to do what they like, irrespective of the truth.”
With files from Times of Malta