Did the Church allow human dissection in the Middle Ages?

[CutlerB]

I’m watching a documentary on Windsor Castle in the UK, and in it they show drawings by Leonardo da Vinci kept there in the Royal Art Collection.

Among the drawings is the famous depiction of a baby in the womb, but also depictions of various organs. The following statements are made:

Presenter: Now, what are we seeing here, is that a liver?
Staff: Yes, it’s a study of the internal organs of the foetus. Leonardo clearly dissected pre-term… children.
Presenter: Yuck! Was he allowed to do that?
Staff: Yes, he did it in monastery hospitals, in full knowledge of the Church, no prohibition. (Presenter interjects: Really, in a Catholic country?) As long as it was done respectfully there was direct Papal sanction to conduct this sort of work.

Does anyone know whether this “direct Papal sanction” bit is true, and who approved it? It’s probably just me, but between the lines of these statements I read an accusation of hypocrisy towards the Church in our day.

 

[MarcoPolo]

This page suggests that his dissection and knowledge of an enwombed infant was done on a cadaver. Leonardo da Vinci also studied animals. If by “pre-term,” the speaker is including “deceased” pre-term babies, it might still be an accurate statement. But you are probably right, it sounds like a subtle claim that the Church used to endorse abortions in the name of science. No mention of Pope in that article though. Resources at bottom of that link.

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