Pope moves Down syndrome MD-advocate closer to sainthood
by Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press
Posted Jan 21, 2021 9:55 am EDT
Last Updated Jan 21, 2021 at 9:58 am EDT
FILE - In this Aug.22, 1997 file photo, Pope John Paul II meditates by the grave of his former friend geneticist Jerome Lejeune, during a private visit to the Chalo-Saint-Mars cemetery near Paris. Pope Francis on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021, approved the “heroic virtues” of Dr. Jerome Lejeune, who discovered the genetic basis of Down’s Syndrome, lived from 1926-1994 and was particularly esteemed by St. John Paul II for his anti-abortion stance. (AP Photo/Arturo Mari/file)
ROME The French doctor who discovered the genetic basis of Down syndrome but spent his career advocating against abortion as a result of prenatal diagnosis has taken his first major step to possible sainthood.
Nicole Winfield
FILE - In this Aug.22, 1997 file photo, Pope John Paul II meditates by the grave of his former friend geneticist Jerome Lejeune, during a private visit to the Chalo-Saint-Mars cemetery near Paris. Pope Francis on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021, approved the âheroic virtuesâ of Dr. Jerome Lejeune, who discovered the genetic basis of Downâs Syndrome, lived from 1926-1994 and was particularly esteemed by St. John Paul II for his anti-abortion stance. (AP Photo/Arturo Mari/file) January 21, 2021 - 7:32 AM
ROME - The French doctor who discovered the genetic basis of Down syndrome but spent his career advocating against abortion as a result of prenatal diagnosis has taken his first major step to possible sainthood.
“Nowadays, the Church cannot be a mere guardian of ideas and beliefs, however good and righteous that may be,” writes Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life.
Panelists in webinar address concerns raised over vaccines and fetal cell line
Jan 17, 2021 catholic news service
A man at the New York state COVID-19 vaccination site, Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City, receives a dose of the coronavirus vaccine Jan. 13, 2021. (Credit: Brendan McDermid/Reuters via CNS.)
Participants in a Jan. 14 webinar sponsored by the Institute for Human Ecology at The Catholic University of America discussed concerns raised by some over a fetal cell line being used in some phase of COVID-19 vaccine development but concluded the cell line is probably sufficiently removed from the original evil to ameliorate Catholic apprehensions.
Panelists in webinar address concerns raised over vaccines and fetal cell line
Kurt Jensen / CNS | 01.15.2021
WASHINGTON (CNS) Participants in a Jan. 14 webinar sponsored by the Institute for Human Ecology at The Catholic University of America discussed concerns raised by some over a fetal cell line being used in some phase of COVID-19 vaccine development but concluded the cell line is probably sufficiently removed from the original evil to ameliorate Catholic apprehensions.
A Dutch researcher in the 1970s developed HEK-293, or human embryonic kidney 293 cells. Their original source was an aborted female fetus. The cell line is used to manufacture the spike protein of the coronavirus, which, in a vaccine, triggers an immune response.