Communication on March 2, 2007
* Cardinal Cheong's Message for Lent 2007
On the occasion of Lent 2007, His Eminence Nicholas Cardinal Cheong Jinsuk, Archbishop of Seoul, issued a message for Lent and asked the people of the Archdiocese of Seoul to repent and renew in the grace of God.
In his Lenten message entitled "Repent, and Believe in the Gospel", Cardinal Cheong emphasized, "The faith in God manifests in the concern and love toward our poor neighbors. During the Lenten season, the observance of fast and abstinence from meat as well as the sacrifice can obtain the significance only if we share charity with our neighbors."
He continued, "The Church should listen carefully to those in sufferings and difficulties and heal their wounds. The charity grants both givers and receivers spiritual richness."
He said, "True repentance is not only to repent of one's sins, but also to convert oneself to God." and asserted, "Let us make this Lent full of grace by repenting, following the Gospel, overcoming the death and witnessing the life."
* Statement Issued by the Committee for Life of the Archdiocese of Seoul
The Committee for Life of the Archdiocese of Seoul (President: the Most Rev. Andrew Yeom Soo-jung, Auxiliary Bishop of Seoul) issued a statement entitled "The Catholic Position about the Law on Bioethics and Biosafety" and affirmed the position opposing to all kinds of 'embryonic research' which destroy human embryos or human lives.
The revised bill of 'The Law on Bioethics and Biosafety (the Bioethics Law)' was presented by the Ministry of Health and Welfare last December, and now is under the deliberation of the National Bioethics Committee.
In the statement, Bishop Yeom said, "The Catholic Church is deeply concerned about the news that the National Bioethics Committee now deliberates the sanction of embryonic research." Then he asserted, "Neither bill of temporarily banning somatic cell research nor that of limitedly sanctioning it, which are now under deliberation, must be consented. It must be noticed that the enforcement of those researches is based on commercial interests and logic behind economical profits rather than concerns for medical treatment. Human embryonic stem cell research brings about a serious ethical problem of destroying a powerless human life in order to cure another life."
The statement continued, "The Catholic Church has supported and will support adult stem cell research for the purpose of treating incurable diseases," and retrieved, "For our society's ethical growth, we urge to renounce any kind of embryonic stem cell research."
The Committee transmitted this statement to the governmental organizations in relation to law reform.