Pope Speaks Against Human Cloning

Gulf Daily News reports on the Pope's opposition to human cloning:

The Vatican reiterated its firm opposition yesterday to human cloning after the British government gave a research team permission to use human cloning for medical research purposes.

"The Holy Father has always unequivocally condemned all forms of human cloning, even for therapeutic purposes," Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said.

..."Science itself points to other forms of therapeutic intervention which would not involve cloning or the use of embryonic cells, but rather would make use of stem cells taken from adults," the head of the Roman Catholic Church told an international congress of transplant specialists in 2000.

"This is the direction that research must follow if it wishes to respect the dignity of each and every human being, even at an embryonic stage," the Pope said.