Monday, January 23, 2012

Cutting-edge science

The Church and the study of human anatomy

This detailed figure of an arm constructed of coloured wax and bone was made by Italian anatomist-sculptor Anna Morandi Manzolini, who was supported by 18th-century Pope Benedict XIV. The work is seen in the Poggi Museum in Bologna, Italy. Pope Benedict XIV, who created the first museum of anatomy in Italy, was an avid supporter of doctors using human cadavers to create more accurate anatomical studies that would promote public health.

Many readers of the Vatican's official newspaper might have been taken by surprise in mid-January by an article effusively praising a well-known exhibition of "plastinated" human bodies, which was making an extended stop in Rome.

"Body Worlds," which L'Osservatore Romano called a "wonderful ode to respect for the body," is an exhibition of preserved human corpses, displayed in often sporty stances.
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1 comment:

  1. Paul Schratz wrote a piece on this when the exhibition was last in Vancouver.

    http://www.bccatholic.ca/opinion-and-editorial/243-a-lesson-in-respect-for-bodies

    And this was released by the communications department in 2006:

    http://www.bccatholic.ca/component/content/article/89-news-archives/220-concerns-about-body-worlds

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