Bishops condemn stem cell research

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Catholic bishops on Friday condemned the destruction of human embryos for stem cell research as a "gravely immoral act" in the organization's first formal statement on the issue.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted 191-1 to adopt the statement, without debate or discussion.

"Harvesting these 'embryonic stem cells' involves the deliberate killing of innocent human beings, a gravely immoral act," the organization said.

The identity of the one dissenter or the reason for his dissent was not made public at the gathering in Orlando.

Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, said ballots are signed but are destroyed after they are counted. Naumann said the reason for the 'no' vote could be as simple as a disagreement with the phrasing in the document.

"I'm assuming the person isn't going against the pope's teaching," Naumann said.

The bishops' vote to adopt the statement, which will be distributed to Catholics in a brochure, came without debate.

Hot button issues like abortion and stem cell research mobilized the Republican Party's conservative Christian base to help keep President George W. Bush in the White House in 2004.

They may not have the same impact in the November election, as Republican candidate John McCain is viewed by many religious conservatives as soft on core issues like gay marriage and stem cell research.

Individual bishops and conference officials have spoken out regularly over the years on embryonic stem cell research.

But Bishop Arthur Seratelli of Paterson, New Jersey, said Catholics and the public generally remained confused about the moral and ethical implications of the research, and on the church's position.

"U.S. Catholics and the general public deserve a clear, concise and unambiguous statement," Seratelli said.

The formal statement on embryonic stem cell research is planned as the first of two related documents to be brought forward from the bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, according to Archbishop John Myers of Newark.

Myers said a forthcoming longer, more pastoral statement directed especially toward married Catholics and those dealing with infertility will tackle the issues of in vitro fertilization and the adoption of embryos by couples.

The spare embryos eyed by scientists for research are a byproduct of in vitro fertilization. Myers said the Holy See is studying the issue of embryo adoption.

The bishops cautioned that stem cell harvesting from spare embryos will spur the creation of additional embryos for scientific purposes and cloning, which the bishops said "reduces human procreation to a mere manufacturing process."

"It now seems undeniable that once we cross the fundamental moral line that prevents us from treating any fellow human being as a mere object of research, there is no stopping point," the statement said.

"We therefore urge Catholics and all people of good will to join us in reaffirming, precisely in this context of embryonic stem cell research, that 'the killing of innocent human creatures, even if carried out to help others, constitutes an absolutely unacceptable act,'" it added, quoting Pope John Paul II in "The Gospel of Life."

(Editing by Michael Christie)