Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Pope John Paul II Urges President Bush to Reject Stem Cell Research

Aired July 23, 2001 - 08:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin in Italy, where the pope weighs in on a hot U.S. issue. Pope John Paul II told President Bush this morning the United States must reject the use of human embryos in stem cell research.

Our senior White House correspondent John King is following the president -- John.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, good morning to you. Good afternoon from here in Rome.

A dramatic development today as the president weighs that decision: whether he should allow the use of federal dollars for stem cell research -- embryonic stem cell research -- the Catholic Church already on record opposing such research.

It views embryos as human life. But as the president met today with Pope John Paul II at the pope's summer residence in the foothills just south of Rome, the pope, being characteristically blunt -- he is 81 years old, physically frail, his voice halting at times. But the pope said that stem cell research was evil. He likened it to infanticide and euthanasia.

And he said the United States, as a leader of the world -- the leading democracy -- he turned to Mr. Bush and said that Mr. Bush had a moral obligation to oppose stem cell research.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE JOHN PAUL II: ... the right to life, in law and through a vibrant culture of life, America can show the world the path to a truly humane future, in which man remains the master, not the product, of his technology."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Now, the president has called this one of the most agonizing decisions he has ever had to make -- his most difficult decision in his six months as president -- on the one hand, the moral argument led by the Catholic Church and others that embryos are human life and therefore should not be used in research; on the other, doctors and scientists talking about the promise of curing disease if this research is allowed to go forward. Mr. Bush said in advance of this meeting he considered the pope to be one of the world's great moral leaders and certainly wanted to listen to him -- but the characteristically blunt talk from the pope today urging Mr. Bush to say no to those who argue in favor of federal funding for embryonic stem research the latest development in a very dramatic debate, as the president weighs a very difficult decision -- Carol.

LIN: All right, thank you very much, John King, reporting live there from Rome.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com