The pope and I aren’t usually on the same wavelength (What the heck is wrong with condoms? Well, Mike, this is the pope speaking. When your daughter turns 16 and you find some in her backpack, you come talk to me), but I’m totally with the pontiff on this one.
Pope Benedict XVI this week sent word to the U.N. forum on race in Geneva that he’s ticked off about technology allowing parents to choose the genetic characteristics of their babies. He said this threatens to breen new forms of racism.
“The Holy See is also alarmed by the still latent temptation of eugenics that can be fueled by techniques of artificial procreation and the use of ‘superfluous embryos’,” Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, Vatican observer to the U.N. in Geneva said. “The possibility of choosing the color of the eyes or other physical characteristic of a child could lead to the creation of a ‘subcategory of human beings’ or the elimination of human beings that do not fulfill the characteristics predetermined by a given society.”
I can tell you why the pope feels strongly about this. If every kid is perfect, where will the next Susan Boyle come from?