01/03/2012
Collection of opinions prepared by the COMECE Bioethics Discussion Group – Science and Ethics – Volume 2 (EN)
The Catholic Church in the European Union
Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union
In response to the economic and financial crisis currently hitting Europe, the COMECE Bishops propose that the Common Market evolves towards the concept of a Social Market Economy in order for the EU to become a viable ‘Community of Solidarity and Responsibility’. By means of this Statement, which will be unveiled on 12 January 2012 in Brussels, the Bishops of the Commission of the Bishops’ … Continue reading
Human embryonic stem cell research is no longer patentable in the EU, it is ethically problematic and therefore is not a consensual research field among Member States and EU citizens. Moreover, it offers less and less clinical promise. COMECE therefore calls on the EU to exclude human embryonic stem cell research from its upcoming research funding programme Horizon 2020 and to focus instead on the … Continue reading
COMECE welcomes the Judgement of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). In the Case Oliver Brüstle v Greenpeace, the ECJ, in a preliminary ruling, decided that destructive research on human embryo cannot be patented. In this context, the ECJ had to give a clear legal interpretation of the concept of “human embryo”. This concept remained not defined in Directive 98/44/EC. The Court now defines a … Continue reading
“Human work is a key, probably the essential key, to the whole social question, if we try to see that question really from the point of view of man’s good. And if the social question (…) must be sought in the direction of “making life more human”, then the key, namely human work, acquires fundamental and decisive importance.” Laborem exercens On the occasion of the … Continue reading
This was the topic of the Dialogue Seminar which took place this 27 June at the European Commission. About 12 million Roma live throughout Europe today. To foster their inclusion, the EU recently adopted an EU framework for national Roma integration strategies up to 2020. Churches welcomed the adoption of this framework, especially as it looks beyond the current EU and considers support to enlargement … Continue reading
COMECE is a supporter of the European Sunday Alliance, a network of national Sunday Alliances, trade unions, civil society organizations and religious communities committed to raise awareness of the unique value of synchronised free time for our European societies. In the context of the revision of the Working Time Directive, the European Sunday Alliance intends to highlight the “added value” of the synchronisation of free … Continue reading