Excellent article. What’s curious about this event is that the Pope’s statement on surrogacy was three sentences in the middle of a 45-minute lecture that was primarily on peace and war. But that’s what the media was looking for, something they could dispute about sexuality. Apparently nobody wants to talk about peace right now.
Well said. We should appreciate when the Holy Father speaks with such clarity on moral matters. The exploitative and regressive nature of surrogacy could be potential areas of common ground to better connect with those who exhibit concern for the welfare of the poor and disadvantaged.
Agreed 100% - on both counts! I do think that furthering dialogue and cooperation with people who might not otherwise be engaged with the Church is a golden opportunity that comes with these emerging technologies. They bring to light old ethical principles in new ways that expand our thinking and open people up to the truth of the Church - or at the very least, open a door to working side by side.
The irony, strictly from a materialist angle, is that hiring a poor Thai woman to bear your child is not going to give you a child that is truly of your creation. Epigenetic changes to the chromosomes of the baby, from developing in the womb of a mother on the other side of the world, are going to mean the child is hers as well as yours.
India outlawed the surrogate mother business because of its exploitative essence. Thailand then saw the surrogacy business pick up.
Surrogacy is one of the ugliest industries on earth. Right up there with buying kidneys from Chinese prisoners.
Agreed! I have an article coming out soon about michrochimerism, in which fetal cells from the child migrate into the mother’s body and remain, likely forever. These fetal stem cells may even repair damage to the mother’s body.
It’s incredible. Surrogacy is not “extreme babysitting.” Pregnancy is motherhood, down to the cellular level.
Extremely helpful parsing of a contentious issue--thank you for this. Frustrating that those in violent reaction to fiducia supplicans are totally silent about this insightful direction from the Holy Father
Excellent article. What’s curious about this event is that the Pope’s statement on surrogacy was three sentences in the middle of a 45-minute lecture that was primarily on peace and war. But that’s what the media was looking for, something they could dispute about sexuality. Apparently nobody wants to talk about peace right now.
Right. Peace doesn’t make headlines and clickbait like outrage does.
Well said. We should appreciate when the Holy Father speaks with such clarity on moral matters. The exploitative and regressive nature of surrogacy could be potential areas of common ground to better connect with those who exhibit concern for the welfare of the poor and disadvantaged.
Agreed 100% - on both counts! I do think that furthering dialogue and cooperation with people who might not otherwise be engaged with the Church is a golden opportunity that comes with these emerging technologies. They bring to light old ethical principles in new ways that expand our thinking and open people up to the truth of the Church - or at the very least, open a door to working side by side.
The irony, strictly from a materialist angle, is that hiring a poor Thai woman to bear your child is not going to give you a child that is truly of your creation. Epigenetic changes to the chromosomes of the baby, from developing in the womb of a mother on the other side of the world, are going to mean the child is hers as well as yours.
India outlawed the surrogate mother business because of its exploitative essence. Thailand then saw the surrogacy business pick up.
Surrogacy is one of the ugliest industries on earth. Right up there with buying kidneys from Chinese prisoners.
Agreed! I have an article coming out soon about michrochimerism, in which fetal cells from the child migrate into the mother’s body and remain, likely forever. These fetal stem cells may even repair damage to the mother’s body.
It’s incredible. Surrogacy is not “extreme babysitting.” Pregnancy is motherhood, down to the cellular level.
Extremely helpful parsing of a contentious issue--thank you for this. Frustrating that those in violent reaction to fiducia supplicans are totally silent about this insightful direction from the Holy Father
Maybe it’s that we can’t all be an eye or a mouth or a foot -- same body, different gifts?