Posted on 05/18/2005 6:01:54 AM PDT by NYer
Terri Schiavo's parents on Wednesday thanked Pope Benedict for Vatican backing in their failed campaign to keep their brain-damaged daughter alive and gave him a framed picture of her.
"I can't even tell you how I felt," Terri's mother, Mary, told Reuters in an interview with other family members in St. Peter's Square just minutes after meeting the Pope.
"When I gave it to him he said: 'I know, I know about Terri' to me. I couldn't imagine the Holy Father saying to me 'I know, I know about Terri'. It was the most I could have ever, ever hoped for," she said.
Bob and Mary Schindler, their son Bobby and their daughter Suzanne, were in the front row at Benedict's general audience.
"When he said 'Terri' he held his hand to his heart like he was very sad," her father added.
Schiavo died on March 31 in Florida after a U.S. state court ordered the feeding tube, which sustained her for 15 years, removed at the request of her husband who said it was what she would have wanted.
Pope John Paul II, who died two days after Schiavo, had declared some life-extending treatments a moral duty for Roman Catholics.
Schiavo's case was followed around the world and sparked outrage at the Vatican, which compared the court to an executioner who "arbitrarily brought forward" the date of her death.
"As Roman Catholics, to see the Pope is the ultimate. We are trying to carry Terri's legacy on," her father said.
Terri's brother, Bobby Schindler, said the family was moved close to tears when they saw sick people being wheeled before the Pope to be blessed by him at the end of the audience.
"We could have done that. Terri is very similar to those people ... it was just sad that she couldn't be here with us to share it," he said.
Throughout the Terri Schiavo case, the Catholic Church defended the family's efforts to defend life, which the Church teaches starts at the moment of conception and ends at the moment of natural death.
"I think we are seeing a real attack on the culture of life and I think Terri's case exposed just how powerful and dangerous this 'death group' is and what's happening across America," her brother said.
"Our family has to continue to fight and speak out and try to expose just what this 'death group' is doing. I think having the Vatican showing their support really illuminates what is happening in America," he said.
Terri Schiavo's sister Suzanne Vitadamo said: "We did this for Terri. We believe she is sitting with the pope up in heaven. I'm sure she is looking down on us and smiling."
Terri Ping!
Not only is this death group getting stronger and more powerful, but they are becoming quite bold and in-your-face about it, disguised in the name of compassion. The power of prayer is hope for our future.
Thanks for posting this. I am glad to hear that the family was given some comfort by The Pope. Hopefully it will help ease the pain a little. I know it will help when they can go visit their daughters remains, I pray that that will be soon.
This is a beautiful story.
speaking of which, they are enjoying the tons of money they have right now, oblivious to the rest of the world.
In this picture released by the Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI meets with Terri Schiavo's parents, Roy Schindler, right, and Mary Schindler presenting him with pictures of their daughter at the weekly general audience in St. Peter's square at the Vatican, Wednesday, May 18, 2005. Schiavo died March 31 in a hospice in Florida following an unsuccessful battle against a court order to have her feeding tube removed(AP Photo/Osservatore Romano)
whatever happened with the schiavo autopsy?
Terri Solidarity Fellow NYer Ping!
NYer, you have done it yet again. May we continue to pray and watch this scourge. For those who have no voices...I thank you.
My argument that human cloning began long ago: The people who were in favor of Terri's demise.
We have to get people out of this stupor they walk around in... they can't see what's going on. As a mother of a disabled daughter who just had her eleventh operation days ago...I have seen and reported unthinkable things I have witnessed in hospitals over the years.
We have to go the extra mile. We have to be there for those who are often so stressed within the situation and let the death movement sneak in (believe me I was told my daughter was brain-dead, trust me...she just makes me lose my mind. She's great now).
Have Hope and never give up. Sometimes it seems as if death will or has taken over the country...but now they know we see and we will not stand for it...not without a fight. Truth is on our side.
For all the FReepers, I pray for you constantly, even if no one else does. No one else is like you and I thank God for you being here, (yes...even liberals...especially).
All of you who haven't joined the fight...feel free to stop by Blogs for Terri where we watch the death movement intently. http://www.blogsforterri.com/
Again NYer, excellent work...my Centrum is now improved with B16.
Prayers for you and your daughter! We live in evil times. Consider that in CA, laws are being passed to protect domestic animals while the outright slaughter of pre-born infants continues unabated.
No doubt.
* All of you who haven't joined the fight...feel free to stop by Blogs for Terri where we watch the death movement intently. http://blogsforterri.com
God bless you and all those who are involved with Blogs for Terri. Knowledge is extremely important. I'm sure people appreciate the information you have shared, during the time you've been at the hospitals where your daughter was being treated.
I was so happy to hear the Schindlers were able to speak to the Pope and give him a photo of Terri. The Schindlers are an example of a loving Christian family, for all the world to see. Their strong faith is so obvious.
Thanks for the jpeg.
There's a protest this Saturday afternoon outside of Hospice Woodside to emphasize that we have not forgotten. It starts at 4:00 pm until whenever. I've got to make yet another sign. It will be Saturday so we can park in the bank parking lot. A lady named Lisa has been protesting every single day outside Hospice since Terri died and we are going to join here on Saturday.
That is great news!
I am looking for some up to date literature on End of Life Issues. Anyone have any ideas.
Boy, I didn't think there would ever be a pope I (a non-Catholic) could love after JPII, but I'm really starting to love this guy!
Wow! Go, Pope!!
Thank you for posting the photo! Thank you very much.
Pope Benedict XVI/Terri Schindler bump!
Meet the new "boss", same as the old "boss"...Praise G_d!
So, they went and met the POPE??? I know this is a blasphemous question, being related to St. Terri and all, but I wonder who paid for this trip.
and this is important because?
Because I said that they would be the first to take financial advantage of their celebrity. And I was shouted down.
Because I said that they would be the first to take financial advantage of their celebrity. And I was shouted down.
You didn't pay for the trip. So, why do you care?
meeting the Pope is "taking financial advantage"? are they selling photo spreads of themsevles with the Pope? are they selling any medals that the Pope may have blessed? when they start selling items related to their meeting with the Pope, let us know. the Pope is in Rome, they are in Florida, so to meet the Pope they had to make their way to Rome. are you worried that someone might have paid their airfare?
Great news, thanks.
Who said I was worried? I merely questioned why they're still in the news. I think they enjoy the limelight and all that comes with it...such as photo ops with the Pope, thereby profiting on the death of their daughter. That's all.
That was one of the stupidest retorts I've ever heard! Why do we comment on anything here then?
how is meeting the Pope "profiting"? those 9-11 families who met president Bush at various venues, were they "profiting" from the deaths of their family members at the WTC because they got to meet Bush?
I hope the memory of this visit will be a great consolation to the Schiavo family. I'm so glad they were able to go. I'm so glad there was money to pay for it from somewhere.
It is also my fervent hope that great blessings come from this visit, and I so hope the pope treasures the picture and doesn't just store it away and forget it like so many things must that are presented to him.
I hope a certain poster notices that the frame looks soooooo expensive and extravagant.
Thank you for posting this as I was wondering if it was going to show up here.
There is constant posting of inane Terri Schiavo references on unrelated topics. It's calmed down, but frankly your "can't enjoy" comment is unwarranted in light of that fact.
It is also completely outrageous that to this day potshots at other freepers are made by people that inhabit these threads, lying about them and encouraging others to dislike posters based on those false tales. I'm completely unsympathetic to this complaint of yours.
You've registered your displeasure about the "certain poster" (though naturally, not pinging her to display any courtesy) and I've registered mine with your whine. That's the way it goes. When I see you object to trashing good and decent people due to the constant attacks, then just maybe you'll have some kind of a point.
Stupid questions deserve stupid retorts.
Replying to you was stupid on my part. Your comments aren't worthy of a reply.
Have a nice evening
All the 9/11 families profited financially by the deaths of their family members. But that has nothing to do with this. When this was going on I said that the Schiavos would be the first to profit financially. I'm just stating on this thread that I was correct. Am I missing something here? Somebody paid their way over to Rome. And it was for this photo op. This is a political statement and they're being used for that purpose. I'm not saying nobody else does it, I'm not even saying it's wrong. I'm merely coming to conclusions based on the evidence.
a trip to Rome is not "profit". profit is something I can go to the bank with, buy a car with, etc.
they have a story they want to tell, usually that involves some mechanism of involvement with the media - books, TV interviews, movies, photo ops. if you want to say to that they would be the first party to PROMOTE their position in this case, I could accept that. the word PROFIT does not apply until I see them start selling Terri's keepsakes on EBAY.
You said it, not me.
You know for a fact they didn't pay for their own trip?
The Schiavo's are good and decent people, and they are being trashed for going to Rome.
No...do you know if they did?
I'm not trashing anyone...I'm saying they did it for a photo op. That's not trashing. When it comes to this subject people here lose all sense of proportion. I'll tell you this, I wish people here would devote this much passion to the living as they do to the dead.
No I don't.
But since it's still possible they paid their own way, we still don't know there is any benefit to them that might be called "profit."
We did. Right up to the moment when Felos, Greer and the HINO killed her.
Yea, and they set up their own meeting with the Pope too. Be real.
Ok...I'll change that...I wish people here would devote this much passion to the living as they do the dead and the near dead.
well, have they done that? that's the difference between profiteering and promotion.
Some would say that's in the eye of the beholder.
Do you have a link to the photo(s)?
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