Pontifical academy reaffirms moral permissibility of organ transplants from animals
March 25, 2026
At a March 24 press conference (video), the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life announced the publication of a document on organ transplants from animals.
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The document, entitled “Prospects for Xenotransplantation,” is dated November 2025. The document is an update of a 2001 document of the same title.
The 2001 document stated:
The theological and moral point of view sees no substantial problem in the utilization of different animal species (nonhuman primates or nonprimates), but leaves open the question of differing levels of sensibilities between animals of different species and that of equilibrium among species and within a species. The point should also be made that Catholic theology does not have preclusions, on a religious or ritual basis, in using any animal as a source of organs or tissues for transplantation to man.
Likewise, the 2025 document states:
The theological and moral point of view sees no substantial problem in the utilization of different animal species (e.g., non-human primates), but leaves open the question of differing levels of sensibilities between animals of different species and that of equilibrium among species and within a species ... The point should also be made that Catholic theology does not have preclusions, on a religious or ritual basis, in using any animal as a source of organs, tissues or cells for transplantation to human beings.
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