Upstaging Science? Vatican Support of Stem Cell Research, 2000–2015

In the early 2000s, the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture sought to broaden its cultural role through a partnership with NeoStem Inc., a US biotech company that promoted Very Small Embryonic-Like Stem Cells (VSELs) as a breakthrough rivaling embryonic stem cells without ethical concerns. From 2011, the Vatican hosted high-profile conferences featuring researchers, religious figures, industry leaders, and politicians. However, a 2013 Stanford study questioned the very existence of VSELs, weakening the rationale for the Vatican–NeoStem alliance. While another Vatican group, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, engaged mainstream scientific critiques, the Council for Culture remained committed to NeoStem, using its Vatican platform to project the Church as a proponent of biomedical advancement.