Indian Catholic Bishops establish Bioethics Forum to engage with moral questions

Indian Catholic Bishops establish Bioethics Forum to engage with moral questions arising from medical practice and public policy. 

The Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) established a Bioethics Forum during the 87th Executive Committee meeting of the CCBI, held on 20 and 21 September 2021.

“The CCBI Bioethics Forum is a consultative forum that engages with moral questions arising in clinical practice, biomedical research and public policy on healthcare issues, through a person-centred bioethical approach,” stated a press note released by Father Stephen Alathara, the Deputy Secretary General of CCBI.

The forum seeks to engage in scholarly dialogue with healthcare workers, bioethicists, lawyers and theologians. It will study the implications of the teachings of the Catholic Church for the fields of medical practice and public policy. 

The CCBI Bioethics Forum will work under the CCBI Commission for Theology and Doctrine. Archbishop Felix Toppo, SJ of Ranchi and Chairman of the CCBI Commission for Theology and Doctrine, will be the Chairman of the CCBI Bioethics Forum. 

The CCBI appointed Father Christopher Vimalraj as its first director. Father Vimalraj, from the Archdiocese of Bangalore, is a moral theologian and a professor of Bioethics in St. John’s National Institute of Health Sciences, Bangalore, India. 

Father Vimalraj holds a doctorate in moral theology from the Accademia Alfonsiana, Rome. He has a master’s degree in Bioethics from the Gemelli Medical College, Rome. He is currently the director of St. Germain Academy, Bangalore.

Earlier in February 2021, the CCBI came up with a bioethics document concerning the Covid Vaccine: “A Catholic Ethical Response to Questions about Covid-19 Vaccines.” - RVA News Service

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