Winterr's words
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Vatican Fights "Keep Terri Schiavo Alive!"
The Vatican has been fighting, criticizing the decision made my the courts. Here is a copy of the article from ninemsn news:
- The Vatican pressed its campaign to keep Terri Schiavo alive, saying removing the brain-damaged American woman's feeding tube amounted to capital punishment for someone who has committed no crimes.
In a front-page editorial, the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano criticised a United States federal judge's refusal to order the reinsertion of Schiavo's feeding tube.
"She has no possibility of being 'restored' to a 'normal' life. Therefore Terri Schiavo must die," the editorial began. "This is ... the absurd and terrifying reason" for the judge's decision, it added.
The decision by US District Judge James Whittemore came after feverish action by US President George W Bush and Congress on legislation allowing the brain-damaged woman's contentious case to be reviewed by federal courts.
The tube was disconnected Friday on the orders of a state judge, prompting an extraordinary weekend effort by congressional Republicans to push through unprecedented emergency legislation aimed at keeping her alive.
A top Vatican official, Monsignor Elio Sgreccia, also criticised the ruling, saying it legitimised a "cruel" death by hunger and thirst for Schiavo. Sgreccia, who heads the Pontifical Academy for Life, told Vatican Radio he hoped the ruling wouldn't be repeated in other cases.
"It's not euthanasia in the literal sense of the word," Sgreccia said. "It's not a good death, it's a death provoked by a cruel act. It's not a medical act," Sgreccia said.
"I confirm the moral judgment doesn't change, because it remains an illicit and serious act - even more serious since it appears the decision over who lives and who dies has become a question for a court," Sgreccia said.
In its editorial, L'Osservatore Romano said Whittemore had condemned Schiavo to an "atrocious death: death from hunger and thirst."
"After all, Terri's destiny appears not unlike that of many men and women who in the United States get capital punishment for their crimes," said the paper.
The Holy See is opposed to the death penalty.
Schiavo suffered severe brain damage 15 years ago. Her husband says Schiavo told him she wouldn't want to be kept alive in a vegetative state. Her parents say she needs treatment and another opportunity for life.
The Vatican paper's remarks reflected earlier comments from several Vatican prelates over the case. For the Catholic Church, euthanasia can never be allowed as only God has the power to decide over the life and death of a human being.
Pope John Paul II has strongly condemned euthanasia throughout his 26-year pontificate.
- The Vatican pressed its campaign to keep Terri Schiavo alive, saying removing the brain-damaged American woman's feeding tube amounted to capital punishment for someone who has committed no crimes.
In a front-page editorial, the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano criticised a United States federal judge's refusal to order the reinsertion of Schiavo's feeding tube.
"She has no possibility of being 'restored' to a 'normal' life. Therefore Terri Schiavo must die," the editorial began. "This is ... the absurd and terrifying reason" for the judge's decision, it added.
The decision by US District Judge James Whittemore came after feverish action by US President George W Bush and Congress on legislation allowing the brain-damaged woman's contentious case to be reviewed by federal courts.
The tube was disconnected Friday on the orders of a state judge, prompting an extraordinary weekend effort by congressional Republicans to push through unprecedented emergency legislation aimed at keeping her alive.
A top Vatican official, Monsignor Elio Sgreccia, also criticised the ruling, saying it legitimised a "cruel" death by hunger and thirst for Schiavo. Sgreccia, who heads the Pontifical Academy for Life, told Vatican Radio he hoped the ruling wouldn't be repeated in other cases.
"It's not euthanasia in the literal sense of the word," Sgreccia said. "It's not a good death, it's a death provoked by a cruel act. It's not a medical act," Sgreccia said.
"I confirm the moral judgment doesn't change, because it remains an illicit and serious act - even more serious since it appears the decision over who lives and who dies has become a question for a court," Sgreccia said.
In its editorial, L'Osservatore Romano said Whittemore had condemned Schiavo to an "atrocious death: death from hunger and thirst."
"After all, Terri's destiny appears not unlike that of many men and women who in the United States get capital punishment for their crimes," said the paper.
The Holy See is opposed to the death penalty.
Schiavo suffered severe brain damage 15 years ago. Her husband says Schiavo told him she wouldn't want to be kept alive in a vegetative state. Her parents say she needs treatment and another opportunity for life.
The Vatican paper's remarks reflected earlier comments from several Vatican prelates over the case. For the Catholic Church, euthanasia can never be allowed as only God has the power to decide over the life and death of a human being.
Pope John Paul II has strongly condemned euthanasia throughout his 26-year pontificate.
2 Comments:
So many people who have written about the effort to save Terri have emphasized the hope that she will "recover." On the other side, those who want to terminate her life say that because she has no higher brain function, she is already dead. It is time to address this serious error.
Terri is a miracle--a living person who is without sin, and without the capacity to sin. For fifteen years, she has lived as sinless a life as an unborn baby. She has never angered. She has never cursed. She has never experienced an impure thought. She has never defied her father or her mother--and how beautifully and steadfastly have they honored their bond with her. She has served as a perfect example of sinless devotion.
Who among us, in prayer, has not been frustrated at our inability to shut out the world, to give ourselves to God in perfect concentration and devotion? Is not Terri's example a gift to us?
Some may say that to live in Terri's state is somehow less than human. This is wrong! It is the life our first father and mother, Adam and Eve, led in Eden before, through Eve's transgression, sin entered the world. Terri is living in that primordial perfect state.
We were created in the image of God, but we marred that image through the disobedience of Adam. Every child is conceived in the same perfection as our first parents, and our Savior, but takes on Adam's sin at birth--that's why even at the moment of birth, a baby's first act is to cry for her lost innocence. Through Terri, we have a living example of God's perfect image, uncontaminated by sin. It is not for Terri that we fight to restore life-giving nutrients and water; she will have eternal life with her heavenly Father when she leaves us. It is for the gift she gives to us by her blessed example of a sinless life on this earth.
Sid,
It's good to bring up the more posative side of things.
She is a miracle you are right.
She is indeed just as human as we are, I wish her husband saw it this way, but we need to accept what happens and know she is truly a miracle. Thank you for your comforting comment.
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