The head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales has strongly criticised the Government's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, which receives its second reading in the House of Lords today.

In a letter to The Times, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor criticised the Bill for proposing that IVF providers no longer need to take into account the child's need for a father when considering IVF applications, and clearing the way for people who have no biological relationship to a child born through IVF to assume legal parenthood.

"This radically undermines the place of the father in a child's life, and makes the natural rights of the child subordinate to the desires of the couple. It is profoundly wrong," he wrote.

Christians were among the protesters gathered outside Parliament today to voice their opposition to the Bill.

A letter sent by the Public Policy Officer of the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship, Andrea Minichiello Williams, to House of Lords peers last week, said the "detail and the philosophy behind it [the Bill] are disturbing".

"The philosophy is nothing less than the deconstruction of the traditional family and a radical change in what it means to be human," the letter stated.

"We believe the Bill to be a dangerous experiment which puts the interests of the children affected at risk and has unknown consequences for the human race."

In his letter to The Times, Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor went on to criticise the way in which new research techniques and licences for research into human-animal hybrids had been "pushed forward with inadequate attention to the long-term ethical problems they pose".

He said that the Bill should address this by providing for the creation of an independent and statutory national bioethics commission.

A change in the abortion law to make the procedure "rarer" would also "send a powerful and necessary message" amid alarmingly high abortion rates, he added.

On Sunday, Scotland's two leading churchmen, Catholic Archbishops Cardinal Keith O'Brien and Archbishop Mario Conti, jointly condemned the Bill.

Archbishop Conti, who is also Chairman of the Joint Catholic Bioethics Committee of Britain and Ireland, stated: "We are frankly appalled at proposals which would allow the creation of organisms which cross the species barrier.

"We call on the government to think again about the role of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority which has proved completely inadequate in dealing with ethical issues."

He added that embryonic experimentation was a "disturbing" development and warned that the Bill "breaks down the natural bonds of family life linked with procreation".

Cardinal O'Brien stated meanwhile: "Abortion levels in our country can only be described as scandalous. Our concern is that this Bill may be used to worsen our situation."