Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) – The Court of Cassation has decided to confirm the interruption of the life support being received by Eluana Englaro, who has been in a vegetative state for 16 years. The event has provoked certain reactions among the Catholic world. The President's Office of the Italian Catholic Bishops' Conference (CEI) has issued the following statement: “The life of Eluana Englaro, which has been lived out intensely by our nation's conscience, is already headed towards death. While we participate with profound respect and compassion in her final suffering, we cannot help but make a call on to the moral responsibility of those who are taking part in placing an end to her life. The Church has, on various occasions, including recently, expressed her conviction that artificial nutrition and hydration does not constitute heroic treatment, and that cannot help but reaffirm this fact in this tragic moment. In such a context, there is an urgent need to reflect on the convenience of a law on the end of life, with clear statements that seek to protect life itself, which would be drafted with the greatest consent possible from among all men of good will.”
The Community of Pope John XXIII, founded by Fr. Oreste Benzi, which has been working in defense of human life for decades, especially when it is in its weakest and most vulnerable stages, has manifest its profound grief at the news of the Court's decision. The Community's statement, signed by its General Director, reads: “This death sentence touches upon all our consciences, as it is not an expression of official medicine, but a verdict from a Supreme Court. Ethical common sense rebels and opposes this matter, as it would lead to a serious precedence, which could in turn lead to the legitimation of euthanasia. We ask that the President of the Republic, as the person responsible for guaranteeing the right to life of every citizen, stop this homicide of the State, which is taking place in the name of a justice that is both inhumane and intolerable. No one can remain in silence when we see the slow death of a person who will be taken off life support and left to die of hunger and thirst.”
The National President of Renewal in the Holy Spirit (RnS), Salvador Martinez, has also made a statement in response to the Court's declaration: “A defenseless Italian citizen has been condemned to death. From today onwards, the right to life will be submitted to a law that touches upon the most sacred of the human person. What a sad picture is painted of Italy, which before our eyes becomes more and more firmly established in a culture of death, incapable of democratically affirming the right to life. And I ask myself: is this really what Italians want? We cannot call the oppression of the weak 'solidarity,' or call the rejection of the deepest motives of common life, 'justice,' when it is precisely through sharing in anxieties and suffering that we truly become worthy to be in the world.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 14/11/2008)
