Some of the vaccines being developed for COVID-19 pose an ethical threat as they use old cell lines, created from the cells of fetuses who were aborted.

Dr. Edward Furton with the National Catholic Bioethics Center in the US says in such cases, “the researcher stands by and is ready to receive the materials as soon as the abortion is completed. These are placed into a petri dish with appropriate nutrients and they begin to duplicate themselves and each duplication is a passage and over time this is called a cell line. So the cells that are produced in a line are descended cells from tissue taken from an original abortion”.

However, he says the cells are not actually needed. “They don’t need to start this way they can grow vaccines in other ways.”

Helen Watt, with Anscombe Bioethics Centre in the UK, said some methods don’t use cells at all and some use cells from animals or plants. “Unfortunately some methods use cell lines originally developed from tissue taken from an aborted baby. These are cell lines that have been circulating for decades in labs throughout the world. So obviously those cells do create questions of conscience.”

However, not all current coronavirus vaccine trials involve such morally dubious methods.

Americans are less sexually active than in the past, and this decline is being led by the young.

In the early 2000s, about 73 percent of adults between the ages of 18 and 30 had sex at least twice a month. That fell to 66 percent in the period from 2014 to 2016, according to an analysis of US data.

Sex is also down among teenagers. Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a decline in the share of high school students who said they ever had sex: from 47 percent in 2005 to 41 percent in 2015. Sexual activity among teenagers fell the most between 2013 and 2015, about the same time that sex took a real dip among 18- to 30-year-old adults.

While the cause is not known for sure, social scientists have offered a few explanations. The younger generation tend to be more cautious.  There are growing concerns among women about the risk of a sexual encounter turning into an assault.  And a poor economy with little job security has made young adults increasingly likely to seek shelter with a parent than to live on their own or enter into marriage. Other say increased time spent online is a factor.

A mother has asked the High Court to halt the artificial feeding and hydration of her daughter, aged in her 20s, who has been in a so-called ‘vegetative state’ for almost 10 years.

The mother believes the feeding/hydration regime is “cruel”, contrary to her daughter’s dignity and best interests and that, if her daughter could express a view, she would not wish it to continue, High Court president Mr Justice Peter Kelly noted.

If the mother’s application is granted, it will lead to the daughter’s death.

A related case was heard a month ago involving the same woman when her mother applied for a DNR order should any adverse problem arise with surgery she was about to undergo.

Now, the mother wants the court to make orders which would bring about removal of feeding and hydration “with the inevitable consequence that would have for any human being”.

Noting the mother has said she lacked the financial means to fund the application, the judge said he was glad that the HSE had said it will meet costs of her lawyers and medical reports under an agreement.

The European Commission has confirmed that it is terminating the position of Special Envoy for freedom of religion or belief.

Established in 2016, the position’s mandate included visits to countries with some of the most violent religious persecution in the world.

The Special Envoy played a decisive role in helping Asia Bibi safely leave Pakistan after she was acquitted of blasphemy charges.

Adina Portaru of the legal advocacy firm, ADF International, said they were very surprised by the move: “The role of the Special Envoy for the promotion of religion or belief outside the EU has been vital in standing up for those who are unable to freely practice their religion or beliefs, including those of no religion and those seeking to change their religion. Given the positive impact of the position – a model now replicated in a number of countries around the world – it is difficult to understand why the position has been discontinued.

“All over the world people are ostracized, imprisoned, tortured, and killed for their faith. At a time of rising restrictions on freedom of religion, we remain hopeful that the EU will prioritize this fundamental right through other means,” said added.

The embrace of abortion exclusion zones in the draft Programme for Government has been described as ‘regressive’.

The zones would criminalise a pro-life presence near facilities offering abortion, including silent prayer and offers to help women contemplating the procedure.

The idea had been explored by Minister for Health, Simon Harris, in the last Government, but he failed to produce concrete measures to implement it.

Eilis Mulroy of the Pro-Life Campaign said it is “a regressive move for Fianna Fáil and the Green Party negotiating teams to have joined Fine Gael in supporting the introduction of censorship zones which amount to such an obvious breach of civil liberties”.

“These exclusion zones which deny peaceful protest and free speech exist in no other part of Europe”.

In addition, she said the Programme’s lack of support for women seeking alternatives to abortion is “profoundly disappointing”.

She said the document ignores women who feel they have no choice about abortion, even as it supports ‘exclusion zones’ that would criminalise offers of help outside clinics offering abortion.

The president of the U.S. bishops’ conference on Monday lamented the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in a case that considered whether federal civil rights law considers sexual identity and gender identity to be covered by laws prohibiting employment discrimination based upon sex.

“I am deeply concerned that the U.S. Supreme Court has effectively redefined the legal meaning of ‘sex’ in our nation’s civil rights law. This is an injustice that will have implications in many areas of life,” Archbishop Jose Gomez said in a June 15 statement.

The Supreme Court ruled June 15 that employers cannot fire workers because of their sexual orientation or self-determined gender identity, even while dissenting justices opined the Court was legislating from the bench.

In November, the U.S. bishops’ conference had asked the Court not to extend Title VII protections to sexual orientation and gender identity, because to do so would “redefine a fundamental element of humanity.”

“Words matter,” the statement from leading U.S. bishops said. “‘Sex’ should not be redefined to include sexual inclinations or conduct, nor to promulgate the view that sexual identity is solely a social construct rather than a natural or biological fact.”

The board of the National Maternity Hospital have rejected calls for its vice-Chairman to resign over a continuing row about the Governance and ethos at its proposed new location.

Former Master of the hospital, Dr Peter Boylan, alleges Mr Nicky Kearns has “seriously mishandled the project to date, in particular by your failure to advocate successfully for the hospital’s independence”.

“In my view you have failed to deal adequately with the issue, specifically the concerns in relation to the potential for Catholic ethos to adversely impact on the care of women in the new NMH as a consequence of it being owned by the Sisters of Charity on land also owned by them.”

The NMH board responded on Friday and accused Dr Boylan of attempting to “obstruct or derail this vital project for women and their babies”, calling it “exceptionally disappointing”.

“Your personal attack on the deputy chair is totally unwarranted . . . and unworthy of a governor.”

Dr Boylan reacted by seeking to have his objection to the relocation plan put on the agenda of the AGM in June.

An Irishman who contracted a woman in Russia to gestate and bear a child for him via surrogacy is now stranded and running out of money while awaiting legal documents to allow him fly the child home. Officially, Irish law does not allow commercial surrogacy, but in practice it is permitted. Commercial surrogacy is banned in most European countries.

“I was advised this can normally take six to eight weeks to get sorted. However, I fear that my six to eight weeks have not been started yet as no one from the Department of Foreign Affairs or embassy has seen my paperwork.”

He said he had been attempting to contact the relevant people “but it seems my emails and pleading for help have all but been ignored”.

He said his child’s Russian birth certificate shows her as “having only one parent which is me. I have been her main caregiver since birth and [the birth cert] does not entitle her to any rights or protection as a Russian citizen. The only way she can be given a nationality is via myself.”

With money running out, he said he is getting desperate and fears both he and baby may end up homeless in Russia.

Promoting a family-friendly culture is the best way to fight elder abuse, according to the Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (FAFCE).

Speaking on the UN’s World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, FAFCE President Vincenzo Bassi said elderly persons should be helped to stay with their family, but added, “it is crucial to remove all obstacles families face when taking care of their most vulnerable members.”

He said that family associations can play a key-role by creating new structures of solidarity in our communities.

The Covid-19 pandemic has seen the increased vulnerability of the elderly often forgotten about in the management of the crisis. “Many elderly persons have been left alone in care homes, where they were unable to have access to the same medical care and life-saving therapies as any other patient. We recall today the necessity to protect their dignity and their life, even and especially in the post-pandemic times: we should seize this historical moment as an opportunity to reshape the way we take care of the elderly and the way we recognise their precious role in our communities. The work of all the families who take care of elderly persons also has an economic value, even without monetary consideration. Therefore, it should be fairly awarded and encouraged through appropriate policies.”.