Dr Settimio Grimaldi, an expert at the Institute of Neurobiology and Molecular Medicine in Rome, asked Vatican Radio listeners this week "Why we should complicate things by going and taking embryonic cells, with all the ethical questions that follow?"

The Vatican radio show discussed the latest developments in adult stem cell research which have revealed a method to repair a damaged heart by cultivating cardiac stem cells and re-injecting them to replace damaged tissue. Researchers revealed that the treatment could be available within three years following successful testing.

Dr. Grimaldi said: "The adult stem cell is already prepared to differentiate in the tissue we want to repair. And it is certainly more productive, less wasteful and less dangerous, beyond the ethical aspects, to work with adult stem cells instead of embryonic stem cells."

The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith's bioethics document "Dignitas Personae, an Instruction of Certain Bioethical Questions," released by the Vatican last year, placed the Catholic Church firmly against embryonic stem cell research, saying that embryonic techniques "proceed as if the human embryo were simply a mass of cells to be used, selected and discarded."

Adult stem cell research however, has been regarded by the Catholic Church as the only moral possibility to human cell research. Mr Grimaldi said: "The frontier of regenerative medicine is opening, and this in our opinion is the medicine of the future."

In an attempt to quell critics of the Vatican’s stance on embryonic research possibilities, Dr Grimaldi agreed with the Vatican’s view that adult stem cell research is the most promising way forward to advancements within the field.

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