Acta Benedicti Pp. XVI 813

competent to determine. If these limits are transgressed, there is a serious

risk that the unique dignity and inviolability of human life could be subor-

dinated to purely utilitarian considerations. But if instead these limits are

duly respected, science can make a truly remarkable contribution to promot-

ing and safeguarding the dignity of man: indeed herein lies its true utility.

Man, the agent of scientific research, will sometimes, in his biological nature,

form the object of that research. Nevertheless, his transcendent dignity en-

titles him always to remain the ultimate beneficiary of scientific research and

never to be reduced to its instrument.

In this sense, the potential benefits of adult stem cell research are very

considerable, since it opens up possibilities for healing chronic degenerative

illnesses by repairing damaged tissue and restoring its capacity for regenera-

tion. The improvement that such therapies promise would constitute a sig-

nificant step forward in medical science, bringing fresh hope to sufferers and

their families alike. For this reason, the Church naturally offers her encour-

agement to those who are engaged in conducting and supporting research of

this kind, always with the proviso that it be carried out with due regard for

the integral good of the human person and the common good of society.

This proviso is most important. The pragmatic mentality that so often

influences decision-making in the world today is all too ready to sanction

whatever means are available in order to attain the desired end, despite

ample evidence of the disastrous consequences of such thinking. When the

end in view is one so eminently desirable as the discovery of a cure for

degenerative illnesses, it is tempting for scientists and policy-makers to brush

aside ethical objections and to press ahead with whatever research seems to

offer the prospect of a breakthrough. Those who advocate research on em-

bryonic stem cells in the hope of achieving such a result make the grave

mistake of denying the inalienable right to life of all human beings from

the moment of conception to natural death. The destruction of even one

human life can never be justified in terms of the benefit that it might con-

ceivably bring to another. Yet, in general, no such ethical problems arise

when stem cells are taken from the tissues of an adult organism, from the

blood of the umbilical cord at the moment of birth, or from fetuses who have

died of natural causes.1

1 Cfr Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction Dignitas Personae, 32.