Scottish Cardinal attacks "Nazi" embryology research

Leading Scottish Catholic Cardinal Keith O’Brien has sparked outrage by comparing the Government’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill to “Nazi-style experiments.”

The Cardinal made his invective remarks in an open letter to Gordon Brown sent on 28 October, the day before the bill was passed in the House of Lords.

In his letter, Cardinal O’Brien said of the bill, “Such behaviour was last seen under the Nazis,” adding that, “The hideous savagery of their [the Nazis] experiments convinced the civilized world that such practices must be outlawed forever.”

The Cardinal’s concerns focus primarily on the section of the bill known as Schedule 3, which allows cells to be taken from incapacitated patients on the basis of presumed consent.

Cells taken in this manner are useful to scientists working on cures for conditions such as multiple sclerosis and supporters of the bill, including Gordon Brown, believe it will greatly improve such research.

Unsurprisingly, the Cardinal’s remarks have attracted criticism. The Labour peer and medical academic, Lord Robert Winston, said: "It might be worth reminding the Cardinal that, actually, the Catholic Church knew about the Nazi experimentation, even before the war, not just after it, and did very little to prevent it from happening."

This is not the first time Lord Winston, who is noted for balancing his Jewish faith and career as a scientist, has criticised Cardinal O’Brien. In March, Lord Winston accused the Cardinal of “lying” and making “misleading” remarks about the bill.

Friar Timothy Calvert, Catholic Chaplain to the University of Edinburgh, said that too much had been made of the Cardinal’s Nazi comparison.

He said he felt it was a rhetorical device used to highlight the fact that, “Societies sometimes make decisions which have implications beyond themselves.” He stressed that the Catholic Church does not view the bill as “bad” but is merely concerned about the “unforeseen” implications it may have.

In an interview with the BBC the Cardinal said of the furore surrounding his remarks, "Yes, I want publicity and I use strong language so that I'll get publicity." Yet despite this admission he went on to say, “I don't see why anybody should be offended by the language I use."

Cardinal O’Brien has form when it comes to contentious remarks and his propensity to become embroiled in political debate has lead some in the media to dub him the “Cardinal of controversy.”

Six months prior to the last Scottish Parliamentary elections, the Cardinal faced accusations that he was blurring the lines between religion and politics when he said he would be “happy” if Scotland was to become independent.

As with the Nazi jibe, many of the Cardinal’s previous political remarks seem calculated to cause controversy. In the past he has drawn, albeit slightly oblique and confused, parallels between paedophilia and gay marriage as well as calling on the Muslim community to apologise for the 9/11 and 7/7 terrorist attacks.