Denver, Colo., Jul 8, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Catholics have the right and civic obligation to carry their convictions about the sacredness of human life into the public debate, as in the case of embryonic stem-cell research, said Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver in his most recent column in the Denver Catholic Register.
“Don't be bullied by claims that religious believers are ‘against science’ or ‘uninterested in cures.’ This is nonsense,” he said. “It's a smokescreen, designed to hide the motives of some of the scientific and corporate stakeholders in the stem-cell debate.
“The Church always supports scientific research that genuinely serves the human person. That includes, in a general sense, stem-cell research,” said the archbishop.
“Stem cells, harvested from adults or umbilical cords, pose no moral problems and have great value for medical research,” he clarified.