Vatican City - A Vatican newspaper on Tuesday condemned a decision by the European Union to continue funding embryonic human stem cell research, calling it the result of "a twisted sense of progress."
The 25-nation bloc agreed Monday in Brussels to keep up the funding through 2013, but only under new rules that prevent human cloning and destroying embryos.
Vatican Radio said the EU compromise was "unacceptable for the Church." The Roman Catholic Church teaches that life begins at conception and forbids research on embryos.
Embryonic stem cells are able to transform into all the cell types found in the body. If scientists could control those cells and coax them into becoming specific types on demand, they potentially could grow replacements for damaged tissue.
Opponents object because scientists take those cells from a 5-day-old embryo, killing it.
Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano was particularly critical of Italy's decision to back the proposal after initially wavering.
"The macabre product of a twisted sense of progress," the newspaper's headline said.
Monsignor Elio Sgreccia, a top Vatican official on bioethical questions, described the EU decision as "grave" and said it authorizes "the use of human beings, on the basis of 'I kill you to get advantages for others.'"
Poland, Austria, Malta, Slovakia and Lithuania voted against the updated rules on "ethical and moral" grounds, they said.
The funding will come from the EU's $65 billion research budget for 2007-2013, when the new rules expire. Through that period, less than $38 million would be spent on human research projects into embryonic stem cells, officials said.
The funding will be released under conditions that include a ban on research aimed at human cloning for reproductive purposes and on studies intended to modify the "genetic heritage" of human beings.
In a concession to some mostly Roman Catholic countries, EU money also will not be used to finance research that destroys embryos.
President Bush rejected legislation last week that could have multiplied the federal money going into embryonic stem cell research, using the first veto of his presidency to block a bill he said "would have supported the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others."
Bush's veto was sustained by the House of Representatives.