In a widely reported address, Pope Benedict XVI has again declared that the only acceptable way for children to be conceived is through intercourse between a man and a woman. “Indeed, the union of a man and a woman, in that community of love and life which is marriage, represents the only worthy ‘place’ for a new human being to be called into existence,” he said. He told a gathering at the Pontifical Academy for Life that the field of human procreation seems to be ruled by scientism and the logic of profit,” which often “restrict many other areas of research.” He said that the Church is “attentive to the suffering of infertile couples…and her concern for them is what leads her to encourage medical research.” He continued:
“Science, nonetheless, is not always capable of responding to the needs of many couples, and so I would like to remind those who are experiencing infertility that their matrimonial vocation is not thereby frustrated. By virtue of their baptismal and matrimonial vocation, spouses are always called to collaborate with God in the creation of a new humanity. The vocation to love, in fact, is a vocation of self-giving and this is something which no bodily condition can impede..”
