Recently I speculated on how a new pope (as yet unidentified at that time) might impact stem cells and the Catholic Church’s view of stem cells. I was skeptical.
Now that we have the new Pope Francis, formerly Jorge Mario Bergoglio, what will happen on the Catholic Church’s stem cell front?
I could not find a single Google search result for Bergoglio’s view of stem cells.
Will he oppose embryonic stem cell research? Certainly yes.
But will he be so publicly vocal an advocate of adult stem cell research as his predecessor?
Might he take a step back and not be so aggressive an advocate of stem cells?
The question is a pressing one as the Vatican is supposed to host a stem cell meeting in less than one month. The meeting was entirely set up prior to Pope Francis though by now former Pope Benedict XVI.
I think Pope Benedict XVI really went out on a limb being such a public advocate of adult stem cell therapies, hosting a meeting, organizing another meeting was canceled (see here) and giving a million dollars to it.
It is difficult to imagine Pope Francis sticking to this policy.
Whether the upcoming meeting is cancelled or not, I bet we’ll see a shift in Vatican stem cell policy longer term.
Interestingly, no schedule and no speaker list are posted for the 2013 Vatican Stem Cell Meeting despite it supposedly starting in less than a month, which is highly unusual for an international meeting of this kind.
Let’s see what happens.
Paul,
As I am an invited guest and practicing Roman Catholic, I posed this question to the organizers after Pope Benedict’s resignation. I have been reassured as recently as last week, the show must go on!
In fact my Hotel was confirmed by the staffers just last Thursday. I will be disappointed should it be cancelled.
Sounds like a Go to me. I’ll be curious how it turns out. Enjoy
The new pope has a master’s in chemistry. He might well take more interest in the subject than anybody expects.
That’s cool. I hope you are right!
From what I have heard and read since it was announced, Pope Francis seems to be conservative with respect to reproductive rights, so I would not expect any major differences with respect to stem cell research. He is a Jesuit, which is a teaching order, and thus is not likely to be anti-science. Earth will still be a sphere circling the sun and evolution should still exist. Thank God for small favors.