President of Pontifical Council for Health Care reiterates moral gravity of euthanasi

[KathleenElsie]

catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=7703

Rome, Sep. 27, 2006 (CNA

) - The President of the Pontifical Council for Health Care, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, has reiterated the Church’s teaching that euthanasia is a form of murder.

Speaking to the Italian daily “La Repubblica,” the Mexican cardinal emphasized, “This is one of the teachings of the Church in the field of medicine and serious illness, a truth that the believer must never forget.” “Man can never take the place of God,” he said, “as those who promote euthanasia pretend to do.”

At the same time, however, the cardinal noted that it is not moral to prolong a sick person’s agony with medical treatment that serves no purpose. “Palliative care for the alleviating of useless suffering” should always be preferred, he added.

…

This should answer those that want to “HELP” people die. Enough said on that matter.

It also clarifies the wrongness of prolonging the life of someone in agony.

 

[David_Paul]

Very important for the sick and elderly to hear this. So many feel they are a burden. The popular culture gives them an out they don’t want to take but which is a normal thing to pass through a person’s mind.

 

[djrakowski]

Thank God for the consistency of the Church’s teachings on the value of human life!

 

[David_Paul]

Thank God for the consistency of the Church’s teachings on the value of human life!

I’m a protestant and could not agree more. Your church is the bastion on this. I’m helping out with my mom who is quite infirm. Closest church is Methodist. I took here there once. Nice people. Very friendly but she received a bunch of radical literature in the mail a few weeks later . The usual yadda…yadda about how the religious right has stolen the faith.(I’m in New England. Methodists elsewhere I’ve learned are no where near this “progressive”) The booklet had allusions to choice and even a few sentences on death with dignity. That is the LAST thing we need. We’ve worked very hard for several years now to keep our mom’s spirits up. We don’t need anyone even hinting she is a burden. Perhaps it was a good thing in a roundabout way as she didn’t know how strongly we feel on this. I could tell she was relieved. Not that she would consider harming herself but I know the pain and infirmity has made her wonder if fighting was worth it.

Think I’ll be taking her to the Catholic church which is a little further away. All she wants (and needs) now is to have a connection with God. To reflect on the meaning of her life, not be subjected to lectures on the social cause de jour.