The Church has maintained that embryonic stem cell research should be abolished because it is immoral. This new allegiance with a bio-tech company will add scientific data to demonstrate it is not only immoral but is passe and needless.

Since the time of Galileo, the Church has battled an anti-science reputation. It has consistently encouraged scientific research that advances the common good. Yet a perception continues that the Vatican is antagonistic to science. In fact, the antagonism is towards some specific scientific applications (such as embryonic research), not the pursuit of knowledge itself. The affiliation with NeoStem is a step towards setting the record straight.

The Vatican recently co-sponsored an international conference on adult stem cell research that assembled leading scientists and moral thinkers. This proactive strategy is the right approach. It not only encourages ethical science and promotes moral practices, but demonstrates the Church’s willingness to assume a leadership role on these life-changing questions.

Controversial issues such as embryonic stem cell research create moral dilemmas for Catholics. They cause a clash between the desire to be faithful to Church teaching and the natural human inclination to alleviate suffering. Surely, many rationalize, God would expect mankind to use its knowledge to battle illness and disease. Thus many Catholics have been swayed by the promise of embryonic research to cure many horrible diseases. It’s much lesser known that adult stem cell research now offers an ethical — and, many contend, more reliable — path to those same cures. It’s important that the Church promotes that message.

It is not enough for the Church merely to hold that embryonic research is immoral without also encouraging alternative scientific methods that can give hope to sufferers like Sharon Porter. Adult stem cell research provides that hope. And the Church is smart to promote that.