Members of the Church’s Bioethics Committee will hold a series of public meetings in Scottish dioceses to make people aware of the implications of research in areas such as cloning, stem cells and embryology.
The initiative is being taken, given the concern of Church leaders over the absence of ethical and moral lines to keep pace with biogenetic progress.
Peter Kearney, director of the Catholic Media Office, said: “Developments in areas like cloning, stem cells and embryology are so rapid that the public cannot really keep up. While science is all about pushing back boundaries, scientists must serve the public good and be informed by public consent; the public cannot consent to something they do not understand.”
Kearney said that public concern has grown because of the commercial nature of much of the research.
“Financial motivators should not be driving progress in this field because they can lead to bad science and inflated claims that are unlikely to be substantiated later,” he warned.
