TWO of the state's highest-profile practising Catholics, the Premier, Morris Iemma, and his deputy, John Watkins, will defy the church's warnings that they face "consequences" in their religious lives to support a bill to expand stem cell research in NSW.The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, said Catholic MPs would need to think seriously about taking Holy Communion, the sacrament central to Catholic life, if they voted for therapeutic cloning.
Mr Iemma and Mr Watkins yesterday confirmed they would back the bill, while the Nationals MP Adrian Piccoli, another practising Catholic, said he would support the bill, adding "I would like to see them try and stop me [taking Holy Communion]."
Mr Piccoli said: "The cardinal's comments are unacceptable. We don't accept that Muslims should influence politics, so I don't see why Catholics should."
A spokesman for Mr Iemma said the Premier would continue to take Holy Communion despite Dr Pell's warning. Dr Pell said he was not threatening Catholic MPs with excommunication but he did not rule out that their "yes" vote could "loosen" their bonds with the church, which strongly opposes therapeutic cloning.
The lower house was last night due to begin debating whether to allow scientists to obtain stem cells from embryos through a process called somatic cell nuclear transfer. If passed, it would mirror federal legislation.
Human cloning for reproduction will remain banned in NSW. MPs will cast their conscience votes today.
The Minister for Science and Medical Research, Verity Firth, said the Catholic Church was entitled to its views, as were advocacy groups representing people who could benefit from expanding stem cell research. "I don't want anyone feeling they have a monopoly on morality," she told the Herald. "This is about relieving human suffering and having hope when there is none."
Another Catholic, the Liberal MP Greg Smith, said he would not support the bill but believed it was matter for each individual's conscience, while the Opposition Leader, Barry O'Farrell, also a Catholic, said he would consider Dr Pell's comments before deciding whether to vote for the bill.
The federal Environment Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, who was one of a handful of Catholics who voted for the federal stem cell legislation, declined to comment on Archbishop Pell's statements.
The Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research Australia said there would be electoral consequences for politicians who did not vote in support of research that could offer potential therapy for spinal cord injury, motor neurone disease, Parkinson's disease and juvenile diabetes.
"There are patients and their families who are also constituency members and will not vote for them when the next election comes along," said the group's convenor, Joanna Knott.
It is the second time this week Dr Pell has evoked controversy, after it emerged that the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney wanted its 167 school principals, deputy principals and religious education co-ordinators to publicly commit to a vow of fidelity. This would bind them to adhering to church teachings on homosexuality, birth control and women's ordination.
The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, said the bill was a "step too far".
But he said there would be no repercussions for Anglicans who voted for the bill in good conscience even if their position was at odds with church thinking.
Under Catholic law, someone who knowingly commits or backs something the church considers a grave sin, such as abortion, inflicts what is known as "automatic excommunication" on themselves.
Dr Pell said stem cell research was different from abortion, and voting for it was different from performing the procedures.
He said no Catholic MP in good conscience could support any legislation that gave scientists "open slather for unethical research", which he said included the mixing of genetic material from three or more "parents".
"These possibilities are quite grotesque and I'd be very surprised if they had approval throughout the population. To create a human embryo for the express purpose of using it and destroying, that's the way we treat lab rats," Dr Pell said.
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