S
stumbler
Guest
Pope Benedict has met the family of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman whose condition sparked a bitter legal dispute over her life.
The Vatican had condemned her death as “arbitrarily hastened” after Mrs Schiavo’s feeding tube was removed.
The family, who had travelled to Rome to see the Pope, said they were very moved by his greeting.
Terri’s parents gave the Pope a framed photo of their daughter, who died 13 days after the tube was removed.
**Legal battle **
“I can’t even tell you how it felt,” Mary Schindler, Terri’s mother, told Reuters news agency.
“When I gave it to him he said: ‘I know, I know about Terri’,” she added.
The family met the Pope as part of his general audience, held each Wednesday.
Terri died on 31 March 2005 after her parents and campaigners lost a legal battle to prevent the removal of the feeding tube that had sustained her for 15 years.
Her husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, had insisted that Terri would have wanted to die.
On Tuesday the family, who are all Roman Catholics, met with the Church’s top justice official, Cardinal Renato Martino, who commended them for their efforts to “defend life”.
The Vatican had condemned her death as “arbitrarily hastened” after Mrs Schiavo’s feeding tube was removed.
The family, who had travelled to Rome to see the Pope, said they were very moved by his greeting.
Terri’s parents gave the Pope a framed photo of their daughter, who died 13 days after the tube was removed.
**Legal battle **
“I can’t even tell you how it felt,” Mary Schindler, Terri’s mother, told Reuters news agency.
“When I gave it to him he said: ‘I know, I know about Terri’,” she added.
The family met the Pope as part of his general audience, held each Wednesday.
Terri died on 31 March 2005 after her parents and campaigners lost a legal battle to prevent the removal of the feeding tube that had sustained her for 15 years.
Her husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, had insisted that Terri would have wanted to die.
On Tuesday the family, who are all Roman Catholics, met with the Church’s top justice official, Cardinal Renato Martino, who commended them for their efforts to “defend life”.