By John-Henry Westen
ROME, September 18, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On Saturday, Pope Benedict XVI addressed participants at a conference on stem cell therapy. The conference was organized by the Pontifical Academy for Life and by the International Federation of Catholic Doctors’ Associations.
The Pope pointed out the grave injustice of those who falsely claim that the Church is against scientific advancement. “In the face of the frequent and unjust accusations of insensitivity directed against the Church,” he said, “I would like to underline the constant support she has given over the course of her two thousand-year history to research aimed at the cure of illnesses and at the good of humanity.”
Benedict XVI added, “If there has been – and there still is – resistance, it was and is against those forms of research that involve the planned suppression of human beings who are already alive, though they may not yet have been born.” The Pope then highlighted how history “has condemned such science in the past, and will condemn it in the future, not only because it is devoid of the light of God, but also because it is devoid of humanity.”Â
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“In the face of the direct suppression of human beings,” he continued, “there can be no compromise or prevarication; it is inconceivable for a society to fight crime effectively when it itself legalizes crime in the field of nascent life.”
See the full address (in Italian) here:
https://212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/18811.php?index=18811&po_date=16.09.2006&lang=en
(with files from the Vatican Information Service)