Pope says humans must never be exploited for scientific research

Published: 2007-10-11

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Human beings, including embryos, must never be manipulated or exploited for scientific and medical research, Pope Benedict XVI said. Destroying human embryos for harvesting stem cells or any other purpose "contradicts the purported intent of researchers, legislators and public health officials to promote human welfare," he said in an address to South Korea's new ambassador to the Vatican. While advances in biotechnology have the potential to treat and cure otherwise deadly or debilitating illnesses, such discoveries "invite man to a deeper awareness of the weighty responsibilities involved in their application," the pope told Francesco Kim Ji-Young, who presented his letters of credential in an Oct. 11 ceremony at the Vatican. Biomedical science must be guided by "robust and firm ethical standards," Pope Benedict said. South Korea made headlines in 2004, when Hwang Woo-suk, a scientist from Seoul National University, claimed he had created the world's first cloned human embryos. That and a later claim he had cloned patient-specific stem cells were found to be false.

Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .