Released: Dignitas Personae (full text, etc.)

As discussed previously, the follow-up document from the CDF to Donum Vitae (1987) and Evangelium Vitae (1995), both landmark statements from the Church on the literally life-and-death importance of bioethics, has been released: the instruction Dignitas Personae ("The Dignity of the Person"):

The Vatican's introduction [I've summarized some sections in brackets, important parts in bold]:

Aim "In recent years, biomedical research has made great strides, opening new possibilities for the treatment of disease, but also giving rise to serious questions which had not been directly treated in the Instruction Donum vitae (22 February 1987). A new Instruction, which is dated 8 September 2008, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, seeks to provide some responses to these new bioethical questions, as these have been the focus of expectations and concerns in large sectors of society. In this way, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith seeks both to contribute “to the formation of conscience” (n. 10) and to encourage biomedical research respectful of the dignity of every human being and of procreation."

Title [Dignity of the Person = "from conception to natural death"] This fundamental principle expresses “a great ‘yes’ to human life and must be at the center of ethical reflection on biomedical research” (n. 1)."

Value "The document is an Instruction of a doctrinal nature, published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and expressly approved by the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. The Instruction therefore falls within the category of documents that “participate in the ordinary Magisterium of the successor of Peter” (Instruction Donum veritatis, n.18), and is to be received by Catholics “with the religious assent of their spirit” (Dignitas personae, n. 37).

Preparation [this is an update of Donum Vitae, framed by Veritatis Splendor and Evangelium Vitae]

Intended recipients of the document [not only Catholics, but "all who seek the truth"]
Structure The Instruction has three parts: “the first recalls some anthropological, theological and ethical elements of fundamental importance; the second addresses new problems regarding procreation; the third examines new procedures involving the manipulation of embryos and the human genetic patrimony” (n. 3).

Important links:

• Read Dignitas Personae here (PDF format)
• Read the accompanying 2-page Q&A here (PDF format)
• Read the USCCB news release here (HTML page)

Busy day...

update: William Saunders of the Family Research Council has penned a short explanation and commentary of this new document over at The Catholic Thing. John Allen also helpfully weighs in at length.

Initial mainstream media reactions:

• WaPo: "Vatican Condemns Cloning, Embryonic Stem Cell Research"
• USA Today: "Roman Catholic Church updates code on reproduction"
• AFP: "Vatican condemns cloning, stem cell research"
• NYT: "Vatican Issues Instruction on Bioethics"
• Reuters: "Vatican condemns embryo stem cell research, cloning"
• AP: "Vatican issues major new bioethics document"

update 2: good thoughts from Yuvel Levin, speaking as a non-Catholic who likes the document:

"One of the great ironies of the stem cell debates of the last few years has been that some of the most serious attention to scientific detail and reality has come from Catholic circles, while some of the most wide-eyed messianic faith-healing talk has come from liberal political (and sometimes even scientific) circles." (NRO)

I wouldn't say this is exactly a case of irony.