Showing posts with label Fetal microchimerism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fetal microchimerism. Show all posts

Sunday, 20 September 2026

Forever connected: Mary, Jesus and the mystery of fetal microchimerism


Science and faith are often thought of as enemies. Nothing could be further from the truth.  Science and faith complement each other. Though given by grace, faith uses the experience, knowledge and material of human life to show us the wonders of God who loves us infinitely and whose ways and thoughts are inscrutable. As it says in today’s first reading from Isaiah (55:9):

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

A fascinating insight has been offered by science into the mysteries of human reproduction.  The term fetal microchimerism refers to the persistence of a small number of fetal cells in a mother's body after pregnancy. Research has shown that these cells can remain in the mother's blood and tissues for decades after childbirth.

In mothers who have carried a male child, cells containing Y-chromosome DNA