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skill and the Catholic Church portion out a long and sometimes troubled chronicle . As the church leaders gather for the start of conclave Tuesday ( Mar. 12 ) , their choice of a unexampled holy loss leader will affect Catholic views on skill in the come decennium , say scientists .
The Catholic Church has come a longsighted means from its inauspicious treatment ofGalileo Galileiin the 17th C . It now agnise a theistical conformation of both cosmic andbiological evolution . But the Christian church rest steadfastly opposed to contraceptive method , abortionand inquiry using human embryonic prow cells .
The election a new pope will shape church views on science in the coming years.
" The rude sciences are in a steady search for truth , and so is theology , " retired molecular geneticist and Nobel laureate Werner Arber told LiveScience . Arber is president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences , a scientific mathematical group link up with the church building that was establish in 1603 and re - founded by the Vatican in 1936 .
On Feb. 28,Pope Benedict XVI resignedfrom federal agency , the first time a pope has maltreat down in six century . His heir will set the tone for the church building ’s view on scientific discipline , as in other matters . [ Papal Primer : story ’s 10 Most Intriguing Popes ]
" I do hope that this new Alexander Pope [ will distinguish ] thing like equality between man and woman . This would absolutely be justified from a scientific discipline level of vista , " said Arber .
Here ’s a look at the Vatican ’s views on science over the years :
Church and science
The Catholic Church has been called by some the largest individual and long - terminal figure frequenter of science in account . Indeed , the church fund many of the humanity ’s hospitals and aesculapian facilities . Yet science and the church building have a somewhat checker history .
In the former 1600s , a sure Italian astronomer come into conflict with the Catholic Church over his support of the Copernican view that the Earth orbit around the sun . Galileo , himself a Catholic , was tried for heresy in 1633 bythe Roman Inquisition , which force him to recant his views and live out his days under star sign taking into custody . It was n’t until 2000 that former pope John Paul II issue a conventional apology for the church building ’s treatment of Galileo .
The church service ’s horizon on evolution have themselves evolved over the years . For the first hundred years or so afterCharles Darwinfirst put forth his theory , the church service took no formal stance on evolution , though some church figure rejected it . As tardily as the 1950s , the church maintain a neutral position on the field , but by the end of the 20th century the Catholic Church showed general acceptance of ' theistical evolution , ' which states that God created a universe of discourse where cosmic and biological evolution occurred .
" The theory has been progressively accepted by researchers , following a series of breakthrough in various domain of knowledge , " former pope John Paul II said in a spoken communication to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at the Vatican in October 1996 . [ The Top 10 reasoning Designs ( or Creation Myths ) ]
When it come to reproductive issues like contraception and abortion , the Vatican has get hold of a consistently materialistic posture . In 1968 , Pope Paul VI officially rejected theuse of contraception , include sterilization , in his encyclical " Humanae Vitae " ( On Human Life ) . " An deed of reciprocal love which impairs the capacitance to broadcast life which God the Creator , through specific law , has built into it , frustrates His intention , " the pope wrote .
To combat the flagellum of HIV / AIDS , the church building advocates monogamousness and abstinence before marriage over the habit of rubber . The church has been a world leader in provide precaution for victims of HIV / AIDS , but Pope Benedict XVI take out fervour from health expert in 2009 when , while on a stumble to Africa , he stated thatcondoms would aggravate the AIDS epidemic .
" You ca n’t break up it with the distribution of rubber , " the Bishop of Rome said of the AIDS crisis . " On the opposite , it increase the problem . "
In recent years , the church building has fill yield with research using human theme cells , which have the ability to produce into unlike tissue type , making them promising for disease therapies . The church has mainly confined its opposition to the use of embryonal stem cells because of the Catholic view that life begins at conception .
'' Scientific research must be encouraged and promoted , so long as it does not harm other human beingness , whose dignity is inviolable from the very first stages of existence , '' Pope Benedict XVI said in June 2007 , theNew York Timesreported .
" The primary question should be what benefit can come out of root word jail cell inquiry , " Utkan Demirci , a stem prison cell research worker at Harvard University Medical School and Brigham and Women ’s Hospital , told LiveScience . " The potential benefit of stem cellphone research is vast . "
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences bear a workshop on stem mobile phone enquiry in 2012 . The event focused on the potential of bring on pluripotent stem cell , which have the power to build up into different cadre type , but do n’t have to come from fertilized egg .
The workshop is a good model of how the Vatican is unforced to listen to scientists , say Arber ( chairwoman of the honorary society ) .
