Conference on Adult Stem Cells

(November, 12.2011) Research on the use of Adult Stem Cells should be guided by the firm principle of the inalienable right to life of all human beings from the moment of conception to natural death, said Pope Benedict XVI, Saturday, addressing participants in the International Conference on “Adult Stem Cells: Science and the Future of Man and Culture”, promoted by Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture, and held at the Vatican. The potential benefits of adult stem cell research are very considerable, since it opens up possibilities for healing chronic degenerative illnesses by repairing damaged tissue and restoring its capacity for regeneration, the Pope admitted. The improvement that such therapies promise would constitute a significant step forward in medical science, bringing fresh hope to sufferers and their families alike. For this reason, the Church naturally offers her encouragement to those who are engaged in conducting and supporting research of this kind, always with the proviso that it be carried out with due regard for the integral good of the human person and the common good of society. But he regretted the pragmatic mentality that so often influences decision-making in the world, and is all too ready to sanction whatever means are available in order to attain the desired end, despite ample evidence of the disastrous consequences of such thinking. The Church favours adult stem cell research as against the use of embryonic stem cells, where there’s risk of destroying life. Hence the Pope underlines, “The destruction of even one human life can never be justified in terms of the benefit that it might conceivably bring to another”. In drawing attention to the needs of the defenceless, the Church thinks not only of the unborn, continued the Pope, but also of those without easy access to expensive medical treatment. Illness is no respecter of persons, and justice demands that every effort be made to place the fruits of scientific research at the disposal of all who stand to benefit from them, irrespective of their means