Editor's Note: This article replaces the previous article on this topic, which was published in this encyclopedia in 2008. The 2008 article may be found here.

Pope Innocent XI, born Benedetto Odescalchi, made considerable contributions to the Roman Catholic approach to embryology by condemning several propositions on liberal moral theology in 1679, including two related to

Although the concept of quickening was not developed initially by the Roman Catholic Church, much of their histories are intertwined.