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institutions try to educate citizens in this matter. The magisterium of
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“responsible parenthood in transmitting life” should be the criterion for
that. No artificial birth control method is to be used. Self-control and
periodic continence are to be considered as marks of purity and a sense of
78
responsibility. “The Guidelines for the Eparchial Assembly of the Diocese
of Kottayam” underlines the teachings of Humanae Vitae 10, and instructs
the faithful to use “only natural and morally accepted means for the
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regulation of birth”.
4.3.2.1.1 Use of Biotechnology

In addressing the responsible transmission of human life in the
contemporary context, it is important to mention biotechnology. The use of
this technology has positive and negative influences on human life. Thanks
to the progress of medical sciences, man has at his disposal ever more
effective therapeutic resources; but it can also equip man with new powers,
with unforeseeable consequences, over human life at its very beginning and
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in its first stages. Clarifying certain important questions of bioethics, the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a document, Dignitas
Personae, which explicitly states that experiments on artificial reproduction,
human embryos, human cloning, and other connected research that
endangers human life violates human dignity. It also declares it
unacceptable to dissociate procreation, a personal act of husband and wife,
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from the integrally personal context of the conjugal act. The Congregation
clearly stated: “By comparison with the transmission of other forms of life
in the universe, the transmission of human life has a special character of its
own, which derives from the special nature of the human person. ‘The
transmission of human life is entrusted by nature to a personal and
conscious act and as such is subject to the all-holy laws of God: immutable
and inviolable laws which must be recognized and observed. For this reason

77
Cf. Humanae Vitae, no. 10.
78 Cf. Familiaris Consortio, nos. 32-33.

79
Cf. LINEAMENTA OF EPARCHIAL ASSEMBLY OF THE DIOCESE OF KOTTAYAM
SEPTEMBER 11-15, 2000, Christian Witness of Knānāya Community (Malayalam),
Kottayam, 10 March, 2000, p. 61.
80 Cf. Donum Vitae, no. 1.
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Cf. CONGREGATIO PRO DOCTRINA FIDEI, Instructio Dignitas Personae de
Quibusdam Scientiae Bioe¨thicae Quaestionibus, no.17, 8 September, 2008, in AAS 100,
2008, pp. 858-887. English Translation, Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

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