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."
Or in other words, their statement is spin, spin, spin that ignores what the Schindlers actually had to go up against. It's based in a warm fuzzy "well it was batted around so much in the (ooh la la) courts it had to be right." Even an idiot's dog can see beyond that miasma.
One more time...Mr. Schiavo has stated himself and through his brother on Larry King's show, that he has Terri's ashes and when he figures out where they will rest, he will notify the Schindler's as he is court-ordered to do. It's hard to debate with you, because you're all emotion and no facts. If you don't know this easily researched FACT, than you should even be talking on this thread.
I miss Terri.
You refuse to answer questions, so we're just spinning our wheels here. If you ever truly want to discuss this, let me know. If you want to call me names, fine. Again, it says much more about you than it does me.
There's a LEEETLE maneuver called "nyah nyah Florida courts, I'm in Pennsylvania" which I fully expect to see pulled. This promise and statement doesn't mean diddly squat.
You certainly are correct about yourself when you speak of spinning your wheels.
What exactly is it about Terri that you "miss" Saundra? I am very curious as to your answer.
The sad thing is that you're not even clever with your insults.
So, it's not that he hasn't done what he's supposed to do, YOU just don't believe him. Right?
I answered; you just stick your fingers in your ears and go "la-la-la-la I can't hear you". I told you that the fluff you tendered about the Terri case was meaningless.
You complain that "this is a political statement" by the Schiavos or the Vatican.
Yeah -- a damned good political statement. One I'd like to keep hearing and seeing.
Thanks for showing where you are coming from so clearly.
You're arguing like a liberal. I ask you direct questions. You don't answer them and then accuse me of being the one dodging the issues. It's incredible. I asked you to refute ONE thing in that paragraph and you gave me no specifics.
I can hear you alright, you're just not saying anything!
I refute its meaningfulness. There's no sense talking about the wonderful stoutness of a wall which has a gaping crack from top to bottom.
I never hide where I'm coming from, I am nothing if not honest. And I am genuinely curious as to what Saundra misses about Terri. What is so strange about that question?
Because it would be so obvious, except that you appear in every manner to be trolling to try to "expose" (through your usual twisting) some base motive on Saundra's part. When goodness popped up its head, evil showed itself so brilliantly.
I am grateful to Terri because she got us all praying our heads off. I have never felt so close to Heavenly Father. I miss the way Terri's Mom would glow after she had visited with her daughter. Terri was a perfect person. She was incapable of evil and meanness. I miss her.
Again, a totally empty sentence that has nothing do with the question I asked you. The paragraph was filled with facts. You refuting it's meaning in and of itself means nothing! Oh my.
Ok, I'll talk in the language of your far-away planet: What is the gaping crack in that paragraph?
I said it was all meaningless. If that doesn't trump any allegation of "facts" what does? I said your argument was off course. It was seeking to prove through insinuation the unprovable.
Saundra, unlike Red Zone, you at least have provided a direct answer to my question. There is no such thing as a "perfect person," Saundra. It sounds like you're idea of a perfect person is a body that cannot talk back to you or hurt you. That's very sad.
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