("Breaking...Usual Practice") Vatican Ethicist Weighs in on Schiavo Case [View All]

[truthpusher]

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/sns-ap-vatican-ethics,0,2780617.story?coll=nyc-nationhome-headlines

Vatican Ethicist Weighs in on Schiavo Case
------------------------------
By Associated Press
March 11, 2005, 10:39 PM EST
------------------------------

VATICAN CITY -- Removing the feeding tube from a brain-damaged Florida woman would be "a pitiless way to kill," the Vatican's point man on bioethical issues said Friday, breaking what he called the church's usual practice of not weighing in on individual cases.

(snip)

Monsignor Elio Sgreccia said on Vatican Radio that the Holy See's Pontifical Academy for Life generally does not intervene in specific cases, but Schiavo's case "goes beyond the individual situation because of its exemplary character."

(snip)

"By any decent count, Mrs. Terri Schiavo can be considered a living human being, deprived of full conscience, whose legal rights must be recognized, respected and defended. The removal of the feeding tube from this person, in these conditions, can be considered direct euthanasia.

"As far as we're concerned, impeding someone access to food and water represents a pitiless way to kill that person," Sgreccia said.

Complete Story:
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/sns-ap-vatican-ethics,0,2780617.story?coll=nyc-nationhome-headlines