After all this news on Advanced Cell Technology's stem cell breakthrough, you'd think some people would change their mind.

Guess not.

Whether or not ACT's breakthrough will really challenge political conventions is one thing, but for the bastion of Catholicism, it's still not up to snuff. According to Monsignor Elio Sgreccia, who heads the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life, the whole breakthrough is still based on in-vitro reproduction. To the Vatican, in-vitro reproduction, "from a point of view that is not only Catholic, but from a point of view of bioethic reasons, is a negative factor."

The point of contention here is simple: taking a human life.

Previously observed methods of stem cell research destroyed embryos, which are considered as human beings by the Vatican. In this case, the embryo is destroyed after approximately 5 days of development due to the act of acquiring cells from it. The act, therefore, is supposed to be morally and ethically wrong because of the taking of human life for the purpose of scientific research.

The breakthrough, while going past that whole debacle, introduces a new wrinkle in the argument. In this case, the new method says nothing about the individual cell taken out of the embryo, which could also theoretically grow to become a full-fledged human being.

What does this mean for us who aren't scientifically non-inclined? Stem cells can grow into different kinds of tissues, which would be used to research cures for existing diseases. Politically and morally, the current mode of thinking is that the future cures stem cells could give should not be at the cost of the lives of people, even if they are only embryos.

Great words from instigators of war and religious inquisition, everyone. Great, wise words... If this latest breakthrough isn't the closest we have to a ceasefire and compromise, then the scientific community's going to run out of options soon enough.