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| SCIENCE
Tue, 14.01.2003
pte20030114051 Politics/Law, Health/Medicine
Should cloned babies be baptized?
Catholic bishop starts theological discussion
Mostar (pte051/14.01.2003/13:18) - A Catholic bishop has started a heated theological discussion by raising the question of whether cloned babies should be baptized. Ratko Peric, Bishop of Mostar in Bosnia Herzegovina, http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bperic.html said he would baptize a cloned baby, despite the Church's opposition to cloning. When asked in local media for his views on cloning he said: "Even in a case where it was clearly known that a particular baby was cloned I would agree to a baptism if it has a head and looks like a human." He added: "I see cloning as an attack against life, but the Catholic Church has its laws. If someone brings a baby into the church and the baby has a head and looks like a human then we assume that that baby, even a cloned one, has a soul. In such circumstances, every priest should baptize a baby." Peric also dismissed claims by the Raelian cult, which believes human life was cloned 25,000 years ago by aliens who came to earth, that a cloned baby has already been born. (end)
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