Medical research often comes up with new technologies that have the potential to help patients with illnesses or injuries that previously had no treatment. As these technologies advance, questions arise as to the theological and moral implications of the new treatments.
Stem cell research is one such example. Of course there is no mention of stem cell research in the Bible. So with these and other new developments, what the Church does is apply the Catholic tradition and its principles to the new situation in order to assess the moral and theological implications. Often this is a dialogue since new technologies are continually evolving as is our knowledge of science and human life.
Catholic teaching recognizes the dignity of all human life, including that of an unborn embryo. Because of this, the secular media has often mistakenly portrayed the Catholic Church as being against all stem cell research. This is not the case.
The Catholic Bishops in Michigan recently developed an excellent 12 minute video titled The Science of Stem Cells: Finding Cures and Protecting Life explaining the Catholic position.
Two types of stem cells exist – adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells. Using adult stem cells does not harm the person who donated them. These stem cells can be extracted from places such as bone marrow and umbilical cord blood. Using embryonic stem cells destroys the embryo in the process. The Catholic Church is against embryonic stem cell use since it destroys a human life. But the Church supports adult stem cell research. This distinction is often not mentioned by the media.
Adult stem cell research is already in use in human research and is leading to improvements in human life. This is not the case for embryonic stem cell research which can claim no successes to date.
Additional background papers, including peer-reviewed articles, are available from the Michigan Catholic Conference’s website.
