How will the Catholic Church respond to germline engineering?

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glencor63

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I predict that germline engineering will become commonplace within a century. It will be expensive. The extremely wealthy will use it first, trickling down to the upper-class, eventually reaching the middle-class. I envision people saving for this expenditure before having children, like one saves for college. The poor will demand access creating a black market. Germline engineering will begin with eliminating genes that cause disease or weaken the individual in some way. Eventually, parents will engineer for cosmetic traits. My question: Most Catholics ignore the proscription against contraception. Not a few Catholics ignore the teaching against abortion. How will the Catholic Church respond to germline engineering and the inevitable, widespread use by Catholics? Do you foresee a time when two identifiable types of humans emerge?
 
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Only time will tell. But it does not sound good, since science, lacking a moral base, tends to run amuck with new technology.
 
Thank you for responding. I was really looking for an opinion on how the Catholic Church will respond, once it is obvious that a majority of Catholics use germline engineering, just like how most Catholics use contraception.
 
glencor63 said:
Thank you for responding. I was really looking for an opinion on how the Catholic Church will respond, once it is obvious that a majority of Catholics use germline engineering, just like how most Catholics use contraception.
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We can’t really guess what it will be like.

Peace and God bless!
 
The operative paragraph of Dignitas Personae seems to be #26:
  1. For a moral evaluation the following distinctions need to be kept in mind. Procedures used on somatic cells for strictly therapeutic purposes are in principle morally licit. Such actions seek to restore the normal genetic configuration of the patient or to counter damage caused by genetic anomalies or those related to other pathologies. Given that gene therapy can involve significant risks for the patient, the ethical principle must be observed according to which, in order to proceed to a therapeutic intervention, it is necessary to establish beforehand that the person being treated will not be exposed to risks to his health or physical integrity which are excessive or disproportionate to the gravity of the pathology for which a cure is sought. The informed consent of the patient or his legitimate representative is also required.
The moral evaluation of germ line cell therapy is different. Whatever genetic modifications are effected on the germ cells of a person will be transmitted to any potential offspring. Because the risks connected to any genetic manipulation are considerable and as yet not fully controllable, in the present state of research, it is not morally permissible to act in a way that may cause possible harm to the resulting progeny . In the hypothesis of gene therapy on the embryo, it needs to be added that this only takes place in the context of in vitro fertilization and thus runs up against all the ethical objections to such procedures. For these reasons, therefore, it must be stated that, in its current state, germ line cell therapy in all its forms is morally illicit.
 
It doesn’t matter if a majority of Catholics don’t follow a teaching. Truth is not determined by a majority vote. If the Church taught something on principle because it was true, and no one followed it, it wouldn’t cease to teach it. Truth is truth, whether or not anyone believes or practices it.

-Fr ACEGC
 
If this treatment is done via IVF or other processes which remove the conception from a marital act to a lab, then, that process in and of itself is sinful.

If you speculate a way to go in and edit MY genomes are changed so my child will not inherit the genetic diseases that I carry, this is simply doing what we try to do now by taking folic acid and vitamins before pregnancy. What we do by eating right and getting good prenatal care.

If this is a procedure done on a human embryo while in her mother’s womb, this is simply a more advanced form of what today we know as “fetal surgery”.

There is nothing wrong with preventing illness or disease.
 
Likewise with plastic surgery: It is licit to restore the patient’s appearance after a disfiguring illness or injury, but it is sinful to use it merely to restore a youthful appearance, as this entails assuming the risks of surgery for the sake of vanity.
 
mythbuster1 said:
but it is sinful to use it merely to restore a youthful appearance, as this entails assuming the risks of surgery for the sake of vanity.
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This is, however, your personal opinion. This is not Church Teaching.
 
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