The Roman Catholic Church applauds the developments of medicine in the scientific age we live in, but it condemns all medical procedures such as cloning, in vitro fertilization, but also the morning after pill, and the use of embryos for stem cell research.

The 32-page document called Dignitas Personae (The Dignity of a Person) points out the Church’s point of view toward breakthrough achievements that helps infertile couples have babies, or prevents unwanted pregnancies.

As Cardinal Francis George of Chicago said in a statement on Friday, the Church opposes “discarding or manipulating innocent lives to benefit future generations, or promoting the creation of new human life in depersonalized ways that substitute for the loving union between a husband and wife.”

However, the Church does tolerate fertility treatments that re-establish the normal function of human procreation, and the stem cell research that respects “the inherent dignity of the human person.”

Other matters in the Dignitas Personae include embryo adoption, which is not directly rejected, as the Church condemns the freezing of the embryos in the first place. Furthermore, pre-implantation drug and devices used to prevent the implantation and survival of an embryo are considered abortion.

The Catholic Church’s position in this matter is very clear, however, the questions are, will this stop young Catholic couples from trying to have a baby through in vitro fertilization, or will it stop women from using birth control pills and devices?

The document, which is an Instruction from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was released today in Rome and is expected to give birth to a lot of debates from the scientific community.