Does the Vatican view the American pro-lifers as a bunch of wacky extremists? An article today certainly suggest this. What’s going on? The Vatican, Catholics more generally, and “pro-lifers”, as designated by the Catholic website CatholicCulture.org are still apparently very much at odds over a now cancelled Vatican conference on stem cells that would have included …
The Vatican pulled the plug on its 2012 stem cell meeting this week because some of the very speakers it had itself invited were deemed too controversial. Why? Because these speakers work on or support embryonic stem cell research and for lack of a better way to put it, the Vatican was afraid these scientists …
Vatican in damage control mode on conference scandal Read More »
It’s a confusing time at the Vatican, which arguably has an international stem cell scandal of its own making on its hands. What the heck is going on? In an embarrassing move, they organized a stem cell conference for this year and then abruptly cancelled it, with the reason being that they had originally invited …
The Vatican punted its 2012 stem cell conference at nearly the last minute because it had invited some of the best, most mature stem cell leaders (who happen to some of the time conduct or be in favor of embryonic stem cell research) in the world. The Vatican is in turmoil over this issue. Apparently …
Vatican insults stem cell community with its ‘scandal’ Read More »
The Vatican has reportedly killed its planned upcoming stem cell conference. What’s the scoop? Last year the Vatican had an invitation only stem cell conference at which embryonic stem cell researchers, who are presumably going to Hell, and discussion of embryonic stem cell research were banned. I did a number of posts on this 2011 …
Vatican in turmoil as it kills its upcoming stem cell conference Read More »
We have another Vatican stem cell meeting coming up this spring. This meeting raises some extremely important questions and complex issues at the interface of science, religion, philosophy and ethics. From the perspective of scientists, an important issue is whether (assuming one is invited) to attend such a meeting and if one does attend, is …
Vatican Stem Cell Meeting 2.0: from stem cells to prison cells to hell? Read More »
Today the Vatican held the first day of its adult stem cell conference. Embryonic stem cells remained not surprisingly uninvited. This conference is an unprecedented event in the thousands of years of history of The Church so not surprisingly many people are very interested in the event and trying to understand what it means. Interestingly, …
What are the goals of the Vatican stem cell meeting and why no press releases so far? Read More »
What does “ethical” stem cell research mean? What is “unethical” stem cell research? Who decides the answers to these questions? A church? Governments? Individual people? The reality is that we all have our own opinions about what is ethical or unethical not only when it comes to stem cells, but for pretty much everything. For …
In mid-November the Catholic Church, in fact the Vatican itself, will do something it has never done before in its very long existence. It will hold a conference on stem cells. Perhaps equally unusual and of interest is the fact that the basis for this conference is a $1 million (USD) gamble by the Vatican …
More on the Vatican $1 million gamble on NeoStem and their upcoming conference in Rome Read More »
Why does it worry me that the Vatican is having a stem cell conference? One of the hallmarks of Democracy is separation of church and state. When states mix religion into politics and government, the results have during human history been disastrous. Equally dismal has been the relationship between religion and science. Ever since the …
The Vatican Stem Cell Meeting…is mixing religion and science a good idea? Read More »