The Vatican stepped up its fight against embryonic stem cell research on Wednesday, saying that scientists involved in such work would be excommunicated .
Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, head of the Vatican department dealing with family affairs, said in a magazine interview that "destroying human embryos is equivalent to an abortion… it’s the same thing" .
"Excommunication applies to all women, doctors and researchers who eliminate embryos," the cardinal told Catholic publication Famiglia Cristiana .
Trujillo said that "certain crimes" were being treated as if they had "become rights" .
He added that the Catholic Church was worried because "even talking about the defence of life and family rights is being treated as a sort of crime against the state in some countries – a form of social disobedience or discrimination against women" .
Is he on firm canonical grounds? Ed Peters explores the question.
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