To tell the truth, I have not found anything shocking there. The Catholic Church recognizes some principles such as the dignity of every human life and tries to stick to it using logical reasoning. The life is given by God and we, humans, do not have right to end it by our decisions. Full stop. To make sure that the human life is protected from its start until the natural death - it is condemned as immoral and illicit to kill any human being - even in the form of an embryo, exactly from the point of fertilization. I also understand that the Church requires the fertilization to be natural (ie. by a sexual act) although I know that it may frustrate some people who want their own children and it is possible only by in vitro fertilization. In such cases the Instruction suggests adoption.
In fact, I was surprised twice reading the Instruction. First time, when it described as illicit the freezing of oocytes. Second time - in a different way- when I read that it is moral to obtain stem cells from the foetuses of children that died naturally. It shows how delicate is the borderline of what is justified - and the changes in the research horizon also constantly discover new limits for the morality.
To make things clear the Instruction explains that it is acceptable to do eg. treatment of infertility that does not include in-vitro fertilization or to use stem cell therapies when the cells are obtained from the human tissues without any harm to the life.
In the conclusion the Instruction states that "the Church's teaching is based on the recognition and promotion of all the gifts which the Creator has bestowed on man: such as life, knowledge, freedom and love." So - it is not like many leftist commentators would like to see - that the Church is just a "forbidding machine". It is about life, love and the knowledge guys... Seriously.
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