Vatican issues major new bioethics document

From the "As if we care!" Department:

The Vatican hardened its opposition Friday to using embryos for stem cell research, cloning and in-vitro fertilization.

But it showed flexibility on some forms of gene therapy and using vaccines created from cell lines derived from aborted fetuses.

In a major new document on bioethics, the Vatican also criticized "embryo adoption," whereby infertile couples adopt embryos frozen during in vitro techniques and subsequently abandoned.

It said that while the intent was "praiseworthy" the result posed legal, medical and psychological problems.

The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued "The Dignity of a Person" to help answer bioethical questions that have emerged in the two decades since its last such document was published.

With it, the Vatican essentially confirmed in a single, authoritative instruction the opinions of the Pontifical Academy for Life, a Vatican advisory body that has debated these issues for years.