Monday, September 17, 2007

John Paul the II 's DOCTOR DENOUNCES EUTHANASIA CHARGE

This is sadly predictable especially after the Vatican's statements from last week on nutrition and those in a vegetative state.

The Ratzinger Forum has translated a Italian article that will post here on the dear ole blog

One of the strange - but perhaps predictable - reactions to the CDF guidelines issued last week about how to treat brain-dead patients was an accusation that the Vatican itself used a different standard in the case of John Paul II, implying that, in his case, his doctors decided to 'pull the plug' on his life, i.e., to use euthanasia on the Pope. This provoked the following reaction from the Pope's doctor, translated from a PETRUS item this weekend:

VATICAN CITY - "There was no euthanasia. Not even indirectly. John Paul II was assisted with all life-supporting measures to the last moment of his life. Even if he had said to one of the sisters nursing him, Suor Tobiana, 'Let me go to the Lord'." So said Prof. Renato Buzzonetti, who was personal doctor to John Paul II as well as to Benedict XVI now, in an interview with La Repubblica. "The Pope," Buzzonetti explained, "was supported to the last moment of his life, to 21:37 of April 2, 2005, when he breathed his last. It is true that he had said, "Let me go to tHE Lord' - but that was an ascetic statement, a form of final prayer by a man who had suffered much and now felt the desire to be with his heavenly Father." "It certainly was not a manifestation of renouncing life or giving up, much less an invitation to his doctors to pull the plug or stop his life support, an indirect choice of euthanasia as some people have charged. Anyone who thinks this is obviously wrong."

Any journalist or group that says Euthanasia was used on the POPE or that he did not die a "Catholic" death is just lying.

1 comment:

Tina Boyer said...

Thank you for that post. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Amy