Excerpts:
"ROME - The family of Terri Schiavo met with a top cardinal Tuesday to thank him for the Vatican's support as they sought to keep the brain-damaged woman alive.
Schiavo's father, Bob Schindler, said that support from Cardinal Renato Martino and other Vatican officials had helped the family "spiritually" in their unsuccessful battle against a court order to have Schiavo's feeding tube removed.
"Just knowing that he supported us gave us strength," said Schiavo's mother, Mary Schindler, following a 15-minute private audience with Martino."
(snip)
"Martino heads the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and had urged in February that the feeding tube not be removed.
The Vatican condemned her death as "arbitrarily hastened," and called the removal of her feeding tube a violation of the principles of Christianity and civilization. Martino said Tuesday that Schiavo's death was "an insult to human dignity."
