"In the wrong hands, today's novelty could lead to a devastating step into the unknown tomorrow," said Bishop Domenico Mogavero, head of the legal affairs commission for the Italian Episcopal Conference.
"Man comes to God, but he is not God: he remains human and he has the possibility to give life through procreation, not through constructing it artificially."
Religious leaders fear that scientists are "playing God".
"It is human nature which gives its dignity to the human genome, not the inverse. The nightmare to be fought is the manipulation of life," Bishop Mogavero told the Italian daily La Stampa.
Bruno Forte, archbishop of Chieti-Vasto, in central Italy, said: "The worry can be resumed in one question - is what is scientifically possible also just from an ethical point of view?"
EDIT: Source:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/it...devastating-step/story-e6frf7jo-1225869843041