The book, published by Cambridge University Press, discusses a modern Roman Catholic view of controversial topics like stem-cell research, eugenics, abortion, transplants, suicide and euthanasia.

Cardinal George Pell, Australian Catholicism's most senior cleric, described the work as part of an effort to win the hearts and minds of the public and Catholics in what he described as "culture wars".

"Bishop Anthony has enormously increased the intellectual firepower of the Australian episcope," he said at the launch.

Bishop Anthony hoped his book would serve as a catalyst for discussion on "some of the most important and pressing issues in our age surrounding human life".

"When do human beings begin?" he asked. "What's all the fuss about stem cells? Is abortion a new form of eugenics? Who should live and who should die on the basis of their genes, or their unwantedness, and who should decide, and in whose interests?

"Are organ transplants a good thing or do they kill their donors?"

The bishop said the book did not contradict the necessity of the separation of church and state. "There's a legitimate separation of church and state that Christianity first offered to the world. The church may not dictate to the state, or to the professions. She must always be a voice for the voiceless, including the unborn, the sick and the dying."