The Vatican has strongly criticised the cloning of a human embryo by US researchers, saying the scientists had tampered with human life.
"Notwithstanding the humanistic intents . . . this calls for a calm but resolute appraisal which shows the moral gravity of this project and calls for unequivocal condemnation," the Vatican said in a statement.
The statement reiterated firm Catholic Church teaching that life begins at the instant of conception and that cloning, therefore, was a violation of life. "What we have before us are human embryos and not cells," the Vatican said.
The statement said stem cells from adults, mother's blood or spontaneously aborted foetuses could be used for research instead of the embryo cells. "This is the path which every honest scientist should follow to preserve the greatest respect for man," it said.
Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, secretary of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said cloning embryos was killing.
"That embryo will be sacrificed to collect stem cells. From an ethical viewpoint, it is the termination of an innocent human life," he said.
The Vatican joined a chorus of religious and political leaders in condemning the cloning.