Pope encourages medical research without destroying embryos

Published: 2003-12-03

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While encouraging medical researchers in their efforts to help the sick, Pope John Paul II insisted their work must never involve the destruction or manipulation of human embryos. In a message for the Feb. 11 commemoration of World Day of the Sick, the pope offered his prayers for all those who are sick and for those who care for them, especially for families. "Life must be welcomed, respected and defended from its beginning to its natural end," the pope wrote in the message, released Dec. 3 at the Vatican. At the same time, he said, "the family, the cradle of every new life, must be safeguarded." While the church welcomes scientific research to heal, cure and prevent disease, he said, research always must respect "the rights and dignity of the person from the moment of conception. No one, in fact, can give himself the right to destroy or manipulate indiscriminately the life of a human being." The Catholic Church's main 2004 celebration of World Day of the Sick will be held at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France.

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