Writings

Ensoulment of the Human Embryo

In a Commentary/Opinion/Letter in the National Catholic Register entitled Embryonic Ensoulment, Father Tad addresses Catholic Church teaching, and specifically whether or not the Church definitively holds that at fertilization, the human embryo is ensouled with an immortal, immaterial and rational soul. The online version of this article is also available here on the National Catholic Register website.

In a subsequent article in the National Catholic Register entitled The Wisdom of the Church Is in Her Silence, Too — The Embryonic Ensoulment Debate: Father Pacholczyk Responds, he explains in greater detail the Church's teachings regarding the ensoulment of the human embryo and the inviolability of embryonic humans. An online version of this article is available here on the National Catholic Register website.

See also Father Tad's Making Sense of Bioethics Column which takes up this theme, entitled Do Embryos Have Souls?