Archbishop Burke on the Passage of Amendment 2

November 8, 2006
For Immediate Release

Statement of Archbishop Raymond L. Burke on the Occasion of the Passage of Amendment 2

ST. LOUIS — Over the last several months the Catholic Church has had the privilege of praying and working with many individuals and groups of faith and good will to speak the truth about the intrinsic evils of human cloning and the destruction of human embryos for research enshrined in Amendment 2.

We made great progress in helping the citizens of Missouri realize the confusion and deception of the language of Amendment 2. We have failed, however, to overcome the formidable resources of its proponents. In Missouri, we have lost a significant battle for the protection of human life. The citizens of Missouri have succumbed to a false hope created by a campaign which has played on the desire of us all to help those suffering from deadly diseases and serious injuries.

Missouri’s Amendment 2 will come to be regarded as the bellwether of human cloning, and will sadly divert attention and public funds from successful and completely ethical umbilical cord blood and adult stem-cell research. It will further erode respect for all human life and for procreation as the way new human life is to come into the world. Moreover, the provisions of the Amendment will make available to certain biotech companies the money of the taxpayers of Missouri for intrinsically immoral research, whether or not the research ever brings about the promised life- saving cures.

The election campaign for the passage of Amendment 2 has shown us all how deeply rooted the culture of death is in our society. The experience of the campaign is a clarion call to all Catholics and other men and women of good will to rededicate ourselves to prayer and work, in order that we restore, in our state and nation, the respect for the integrity of human procreation and for the inviolable dignity of every human life, from the first moment of its existence. The Catholic Church will continue to teach the moral law written upon every human heart, which teaches us that nothing can ever justify the artificial generation of human life and that nothing can ever justify the killing of innocent and defenseless human life.

With regard to stem-cell research, the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis stands by its unparalleled tradition of compassionate health care and pledges continued support of ethical stem-cell research.
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