LifeZine No. 661: 4th Mar 09
Family & Life at Important Vatican Pro-Life Meeting
On 20-21 February the Pontifical Academy for Life met in Rome for its 15th annual assembly, which featured a conference on “The New Frontiers of Genetics and the Risk of Eugenics”. Family & Life was represented by Mr Patrick Carr at the gathering, and the next issue of our "Personal Update" will include a detailed report. Twelve eminent international experts spoke on the ethical and scientific aspects of advances in genetic research and their possible applications. Greater knowledge of the human genome, they said, has brought temptations to manipulate it and to discriminate against people whom some consider genetically “inferior”. Modern eugenics was born in the 19th century, but more recent scientific advances have greatly increased the potential for eugenic interventions. The genuine promise of life-saving treatments and personalised medicine that this new knowledge offers is so great that society must protect it from a range of abuses. Only if a clear understanding of the dignity of every human person guides genetic science can it fulfill its great promise. F& L.
“Science Cannot Forget Ethics”: Pope Benedict
The Pope has warned the world of the dangers of eugenics, including the use of genetics-based techniques to select people for their strength or good looks. The statement came when Benedict XVI addressed the Vatican conference on genetics and eugenics. The Pontiff said genetics had contributed much to science. It has improved the detection of diseases and could help create therapies for them. But there’s a danger that people will see others merely in terms of their genetic code and their functions in society. Man is more than just a body. “It is necessary”, the Pope declared, “to re-emphasize that every discrimination exercised by any power in regard to persons, peoples or ethnic groups on the basis of differences that stem from real or presumed genetic factors is an act of violence against all of humanity”. Zenit. February 22.
High-Tech “Pea Pod” for Coombe Will Help Premature Babies
The Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital in Dublin has installed a new machine that’ll let specialists study how newborn babies develop and will help premature babies grow to normal weight. The new technology of the “Pea-Pod” can aid babies as small as two pounds and will tell doctors the doses and treatments the infants need to develop properly. Doctors will also use it to research the factors that influence babies’ birth weight, e.g., sex, race and the mothers’ health. The Coombe Hospital says it’s the first hospital in the country to introduce the equipment. Dr Margaret Sheridan, consultant neonatologist and paediatrician, said the Pea Pod infant body composition system cost more than €100,000, which fundraising events and donations generated. RTE. February 26. The Irish Times. February 27.
Unborn Baby Proves to Be Skydiving Mum’s “Guardian Angel”
According to a report in the Daily Mirror, “When her parachute failed nearly two miles up, Shayna West (in the UK) thought it was the end. Astonishingly, she lived—and had another shock in store at the hospital, when doctors told her she was pregnant.” Hurtling towards the ground 10,000 feet below her, Shayna was screaming—and loving every second. A recent skydiving convert, she adored the wild thrill of freefalling. But when her parachute and backup canopy failed moments later, exhilaration turned to panic and she realised she was about to die. Yet despite hitting the earth face-first, against all odds she survived. Then doctors found out she was pregnant—and that her baby had survived the impact, too. Each time Shayna, 24, looks at little Tanner she recalls the day they both received miracles: “It was really a double blessing. It was wild enough that I survived, but for a baby to live through that and then be healthy is nothing short of a miracle. I believe Tanner is the reason I’m alive”. Shayna has now had her final surgery to rebuild her shattered face and vividly remembers her brush with death. But while in hospital, her thoughts rested above all on her unborn son. After nine worry-filled months, she gave birth to a happy, healthy child. She insists, “Tanner was my guardian angel. I just know it. I can feel it. That little boy was what I was fighting for. He was my reason to fight. I had things to do on this earth. I don’t know for sure what all those things are but at least one is being a Mum”. Irish Daily Mirror. February 12.
Spanish Deputies Move Closer to Abortion-on-Demand
Spanish lawmakers took a further step towards gutting the country’s strong abortion law when a committee approved a parliamentary report recommending changes to the current law. Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero must now spell out the details of a new law legalising abortion. The change would make it easier for mothers seeking abortions, said Carmen Monton, a Socialist deputy on the parliamentary committee. The government has promised changes this year despite fierce opposition from many Spaniards, including the Catholic hierarchy. The current law in Spain, which dates to 1985, permits abortion for rape victims in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy; for women carrying deformed babies (up to 22 weeks); and in cases where doctors allege the mother is in physical or mental danger. There’s no time limit for this last category, which pro-lifers say will mean killing unborn babies in the last three months of pregnancy. The government wants to make abortion on demand available, up to a certain point in the baby’s life, as do some other European countries, which typically have a 12-week limit. But pro-lifers say the mental-health provision is a loophole that’ll allow abortions on demand at all stages of pregnancy; for example, all the abortionist and the mother have to do is pretend she’s depressed. AFP/Yahoo News. February 18.
Timothy Dolan Named New York’s Archbishop
Pope Benedict XVI has chosen Timothy Dolan, the popular Archbishop of Milwaukee, to succeed Cardinal Edward Egan in the US Catholic Church’s most prominent position: Archbishop of New York. The appointment of Dr Dolan, 59, continues a tradition of Irish-American archbishops of New York, which has been interrupted only once in the archdiocese’s 200-year history. A gregarious figure, Dr Dolan is also an effective enforcer of theological orthodoxy. “I pledge to you my love, my life, my heart, and I can tell you already that I love you”, he said in a message to New York’s Catholics. A native of St Louis, Dr Dolan became Archbishop of Milwaukee in 2002. An outspoken opponent of abortion who’s compared the moral urgency of the issue to that of slavery, he’s stopped short of refusing to give Holy Communion to Catholic politicians who favour abortion. Before last November’s election, though, he publicly rebuked Barack Hussein Obama’s running mate Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, both Catholics, for misrepresenting Church teaching on abortion. “When all is said and done, abortion is hardly a religious issue at all”, he noted. “Women and men of every religion, or none at all, express grave reservations about our abortion-on-demand culture, insisting that it is not a theological matter but a civil rights one.” Dr Dolan’s installation as archbishop will be on April 15th in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Manhattan. The Irish Times. February 24.