I refer to the article by Juan Ameen entitled “Cardinal believes frozen embryos should be adopted” (TMIS, 18 December). The article refers to Cardinal Francesco Pompedda.

The author of the article chose not to give the source she was quoting from. I myself tried hard to find the source but with no success. For this reason, the reference would be very much appreciated. This is much more important because, what was reported that the Cardinal had said is very confusing.

The title quoted above and the introductory sentence have the same line of thought. Then in the fourth paragraph, the author wrote, “Cardinal Pompedda pointed out that donating embryos to another couple is very similar to a married couple conceiving through IVF with the help of a third person, a procedure not allowed by the Church.” This sentence makes me ask, “What does the Cardinal exactly believe, according to Ameen's report?” Moreover, the sentence is mistaken both scientifically and morally: embryo adoption is not similar to conceiving through IVF with the help of a third person. Something, somewhere, somehow, must have gone wrong.

Finally, Juan Ameen did her best to complicate the issue by quoting, or rather misquoting, my article commenting on the Social Affairs Committee presented to Parliament. She said I had spoken out against the freezing of embryos. Yes, that is true as it is according to the teaching of the Church.

What I cannot understand is why did Ms Ameen fail to say that I had commented on the issue of adoption of embryos. What I said was that there is no official Church position on the issue. Some theologians and bishops approve embryo adoption, once these have been conceived, but they still maintain that the best position is not to freeze embryos.

A. Gouder

SENGLEA

Editor’s note: Cardinal Pompedda’s speech was taken from Zenit, the Vatican’s news service.