AS THE AUSTRALIAN Parliament prepares to restart discussions on embryonic stem-cell research, Cardinal George Pell has warned that the debate risks descending to the level of "religious name-calling".

The Archbishop of Sydney said that decisions on stem-cell research should not be made on theological grounds but on the best moral and scientific reasoning and information.

In his column in Sydney's Sunday Telegraph last week, Cardinal Pell wrote that there had been a "confusing" public debate for several weeks on the use of adult or embryonic human stem cells for scientific research, on human cloning and on the possibility of cures for many diseases.

"It is also a danger sign when religious name-calling is substituted for rational argument, when claims are rejected simply because they are made by Christians," wrote Cardinal Pell. "Clear thinking is not usually synonymous with anti-Catholicism and we should always be wary when much smoke and many mirrors are being employed."

The Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, has supported a proposal for a parliamentary conscience vote later this year on whether to lift a four-year-old ban on therapeutic cloning. Cardinal Pell wrote that the Church supported adult stem-cell research, and the Sydney Archdiocese had made grants for this purpose.

"We all want cures for deadly and debilitating diseases. There is no one who would not welcome a cure for paraplegia or quadriplegia. Adult stem cells offer the best chances of success," wrote the cardinal.

But he added that many lovers of life, including Catholics, did not believe that the ambitions of the living - for example, for cures for some diseases - could override the rights of the unborn; nor that potential research gains justified suspending ethical standards; nor that "good" intentions in creating a human embryo alter its human dignity.

"In other words, it is not right to create human embryos to destroy them for research purposes," Cardinal Pell wrote.

"Most Christians value all human life, but so do most people of every religion and no religion."