Nov 30, 2001

Page 1

oses ao Mi Hi

U

6T6S

November

Volume

30,

11 t

NEWS

2001

Number

12

Serving Catholics

Vatican censures

Inside

cloning of human Vocations: Priest's role vital

to parish

Western North Carolina

in

in

the Diocese of Charlotte

Church officials condemn

embryo by U.S.

human cloning experiment,

scientists

calling actions

life

PAGE

10

By JOHN NORTON Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) The Vatican condemned the cloning of human embryos by U.S. scientists, reject-

News

Local

ing claims that the research produced simple

Sacred Heart Mission

cells

and not human

individuals.

Despite the scientists' stated humanitarian aims, the research repre-. sents a new form of discrimination against defenseless people, the Vatican said in a Nov. 26 statement.

in

Wadesboro reaches out to community with

Advanced Cell TechWorcester, Mass., an-

Scientists at

nology

evangelization ...

Deacon

HERALD

&

PAGE

5

travels country,

serves community through ministry

in

nounced Nov. 25 in the online journal E-Biomed: The Journal of Regenerative Medicine that they had cloned the first human embryo. The researchers said they would use the technique, known as therapeutic cloning, to develop genetically compatible replacement cells for patients

PAGE

...

12

with

illnesses

Parkinson's

like

diabetes

— not human

From STAFF

AND WIRE REPORTS

WASHINGTON lic

(CNS)

— Catho-

leaders and pro-life organizations

strongly condemned the actions of

Ad-

vanced Cell Technology following the company's Nov. 25 announcement of success in cloning early-stage human embryos. "Cloning is not an isolated incident; it is further illustration of our country's downward spiral of moral principals," said Bishop William G. Curlin, bishop of the Diocese of Charlotte. "Roe vs. Wade permitted the legal killing of innocent lives in our nation. That legislation opened a Pandora's box of immoral acts," said Bishop Curlin. "It brought an open season for attack on all humanity. Abortion, assisted suicide and

now

cloning

...

all

gard the sanctity

dangerous Scientists of Advanced Cell

Technol-

ogy, a privately held biotechnology firm

based in Worcester, Mass., reported Nov. 25 that after more than 70 attempts they recently produced cloned human embryonic cells, two of which divided to four cells or more. It was the first public announcement of human embryonic cloning in the world.

They said they also induced parthenogenesis in not-fully-mature human eggs, getting several to divide for up to

reaching the blastocyst stage. officials say they oppose reproductive human cloning and they aimed at producing a baby

five days,

The company's

sought to obtain human embryonic stem cells soleiy for experiments aimed at eventually turning such cells to thera-

these atrocities disre-

.of

human

life."

See CLONING, page

11

and

clones.

But the Vatican, noting that the

Advent 2001

scientists referred to what they produced as an "early embryo," rejected the claim that no human had been

Father Anthony

cloned.

Marcaccio, pastor of St. Pius X

in

Maggie Valley Christmas Parade

It is

"beyond doubt, as indicated by

we human embryos some would have

the researchers themselves, that here

Greensboro,

find ourselves before

shares heartwarming

and not

cells,

as

(people) believe," the Vatican said.

message for second week

The Vatican said the determinawhen human life begins cannot

tion of

of Advent ...PAGE

8

{very Week

be fixed by convention to a certain stage of embryonic development, but instead was found "in the first instant of existence of the embryo itself." Though in this case recognizing human life was more difficult because researchers created the

Entertainment .Pages 6-7

& Columns

embryo

in a

without uniting "dis-human" way sperm and egg the resultant being had the same dignity as any other human life, the Vatican said.

We must strive to construct

The scientists' justification on the grounds of fighting illness "sanctions a true and proper discrimination among human beings based on measuring the so an time of their development embryo is worth less than a fetus, a

together a present and a future

fetus less than a child, a child less than

more in

an adult," it said. This overturns "the moral imperative that instead imposes maximum

Editorials

.Pages 8-9

tine with Christ's will for

the unity of

all

his disciples.

maximum respect precisely who are not in a condition to

Photo by Joanita M. Nellenbach

defend or manifest their intrinsic dignity," the Vatican said.

Gloria Minniti (left), Jim Donovan, Leahbelle D'Anna, and Joan Donovan fill baskets with chocolate "coins" to distribute to parade watchers.

care and

-Pope John Paul Insegnamenti

VIII, 1,

II

1997

for those


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Nov 30, 2001 by Catholic News Herald - Issuu