15 The Least of These And that is what has happened, as “medicine” is employed today to kill the living and maim or thwart what is sound and whole. “Today I lost the Nobel Prize,” said Lejeune to his wife that evening. Sanctity in the seed Dr. Lejeune was a devout Catholic husband and father. I’ve often heard it said that people do not need religion in order to be moral. Of course I’m speaking of the general case, nor do I forget that many a religious man will behave no better than a pagan. Lejeune swam against the stream, and suffered for it. He lost his laboratory. He was denied funds for research. Somebody painted “Death to Lejeune” on a wall at the Sorbonne. Fellow scientists avoided him. But the Church embraced him. In 1974, Pope Paul VI created the Pontifical Academy of the Sciences, with Lejeune as one of the original members; he could then freely do his work for the cure of genetic diseases and for the spiritual welfare of mankind. Lejeune was also close to Pope John Paul II, and to King Baudouin of Belgium. In 1989 the king invited Lejeune to testify against a pro-abortion measure being debated by the Belgian parliament. The king was deeply distressed, and he knew that he had little constitutional power to stop it, though he would do all
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