Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Seoul (Fides) - An Archbishop and scientist come face to face. The Communications office of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference reported that Archbishop Nicholas Cheong of Seoul committed defender of life from conception to natural end and Prof. Woo Suk Hwang, who recently announced he had started the process of cloning a human embryo, had a one to one conversation.
The meeting requested by Dr Hwang lasted about an hour and focused on ethical and philosophical questions including respect for human life, direction of scientific research, as well as technological-scientific matters such as stem cell research. Both men agreed the outcome was a surprise. It emerged that all scientists sooner or later have to consider the ethical implications. Dr Hwang said instead that of the reprimand he feared, the Archbishop explained the teaching of the Church and said goodbye with a blessing.
The Archbishop of Seoul is an active defender of human dignity in the bio-ethics debate. On June 10 he sent a letter to his priests recommending them to increase awareness among the faithful of the importance of bio-ethical matters to prevent them from being misled into giving blind support for unethical research. He said the priests should explain that “research on human embryonic stem cells is an anti-life act and we can replace it with research on adult stem cells”.
In the exchange of opinions on stem cell research the Archbishop reminded the scientist that the Church is by no means indifferent to patients suffering from incurable diseases but it holds that research in this field should employ adult stem cells which have proved to be safe and effective. In the meantime a research team at the Catholic University of Korea announced that it had successfully completed a large part of clinical research on vascular incurable diseases using adult stem cells.
(PA) (Agenzia Fides 20/6/2005 righe 26 parole 268)
