Une conférence au Vatican pour étudier le statut et lorigine de lembryon : lien entre foi et science ?
The Vatican is organizing a conference on the origin and development of the human embryo, saying current bioethical debates regarding stem cells, cloning and assisted fertility often overlook what it considers the crucial origin of organisms.
Church teaching holds that human life begins at conception. The Vatican has been on an increasingly vocal campaign in recent years against abortion and technologies such as embryonic stem cell research which destroy embryos.
The Nov. 15-17 conference is part of a Vatican teaching and research program involving six pontifical universities. The program was created in 2003 to further explore the relationship between science and faith.
"The study of human life from the point of view of its individual origin acquires a particular interest in today's world," said the Rev. Rafael Pascual, dean of the philosophy department at the Pontifical Regina Apostolorum university, which is hosting the conference.
He cited issues such as assisted fertility, cloning, genetic manipulation and embryonic stem cell research.The Vatican program, "Science, Theology and the Ontological Quest," was created to help what officials say was a mutual prejudice between religion and science.