Posted on 12/11/2019 12:57:47 PM PST by ebb tide
ROME - A leading Vatican official says he would “hold the hand” of someone who was dying from assisted suicide, even though he considers it wrong, because “no one is abandoned” by the Church.
Italian Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia was speaking on Tuesday during the presentation of an upcoming symposium on end-of-life issues co-sponsored by the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life, which he heads.
“I believe that from our perspective, no one is abandoned, even if we are against assisted suicide, because we don’t want to do death’s dirty job,” the archbishop said, when asked about one bishops’ conference’s directive that a priest not be in the room if euthanasia or assisted suicide is performed.
“To accompany, to hold the hand of someone who is dying, is something that every faithful must promote as they must promote a culture that opposes assisted suicide,” Paglia said.
But regardless of a willingness to accompany a person through such a decision, the archbishop said Catholics should continue to fight against a “selfish” society that labels the elderly, the terminally ill and others as “not good enough” and a surplus to the world.
Suicide - in whatever form - is a “defeat” for the rest of society, Paglia said: “We can never transform it into a ‘wise decision’.”
However, he admitted he always celebrates the funerals for those who take their own lives because he sees suicide as “a great request for love that was not satisfied. This is why the Lord never abandons anyone.”
Paglia was speaking with journalists at the presentation of a Dec. 11-12 conference on Religion and Medical Ethics: Palliative care and the mental health of the elderly, which is being co-organized by the British Journal of Medicine and Qatar’s WISH foundation.
The archbishop told reporters that even though they were looking “for a rule,” the principle of never abandoning anyone is not a matter of law for him.
“In this selfish society, we don’t need new laws. We need a love supplement, a co-responsibility supplement,” Paglia said.
“We are all necessary, with no one to spare. A society that runs towards a perspective of justifying suicide or leaving behind those who are not ‘good enough’ is a cruel one,” he explained.
“For me, a person who takes their own life shows a failure of society as a whole,” the prelate insisted.
“But it is not a failure from God. We are each children of God. Can a mother abandon her son?”
Paglia noted that the Church says there’s no certainty that even the apostle Judas, who betrayed Jesus before killing himself, is in Hell.
“For a Catholic to say so, it’s heresy,” he said.
The bishop was also asked to share his thoughts about Italy’s growing anti-Semitism, where Senator Liliana Segre, an Auschwitz survivor and a member of the Italian Senate, now travels with a policse escort due to anti-Semitic threats.
Paglia said that a leap of conscience is important, so that the word “‘race’ is banned, and the words ‘brother’ and ‘sister’ are used instead.”
He said that open demonstrations of support for people like Segre from other Italian politicians are indispensable because “there is a surge of anti-Semitism. We see it almost daily, and the Internet favors its growth.”
Paglia also said that it’s important not to forget Pietro Terracina, one of the last Italian survivors of the Holocaust, who died on Sunday.
“Those who forget will repeat, and those who pretend not to remember, risk these tragedies being repeated,” Paglia said.
Have you never read Romans 6:10? Or are you calling Paul a liar?
Somebody’s a liar and it’s not St. Paul.
Then it must be you. I’m giving you the Scripture that tells you this in no uncertain terms. It’s up to you to believe it or not. If you choose not to believe it, that doesn’t make Paul a liar. Or me. Somebody else MUST be lying..
Here are a few scripture quotes on Hell for you:
So try taking off your rose-colored glasses.
Try putting on your thinking cap. IF He died onto sin ONCE and only once then how much sin did He die for that once?? It HAD to be ALL sin. ONCE. Otherwise He would have to die over and over, every time sins are committed. That would make Paul a liar. He said He died unto sin ONCE.
Oh but wait. The RCC is making him a sacrifice at every mass. Over and over again. Not once.
You have a big problem. According to God’s word. And I can tell you Who I believe
And BTW. I read your “many in hell” Scripture “tutorial”. Have you noticed one person strangely absent from your list of writers? That would be Paul. The Apostle to the Gentiles. In this dispensation of the GRACE of God. Strange...
And?
Judas was condemned to hell because he killed himself rather than repent...those who have repented and accepted Christ as their Savior aren’t in the same boat as Judas....
It's you who has a problem by arguing Hell is empty. You're in agreement with Begoglio. Are you proud of that?
As far as your reliance on St. Paul:
[6] For which things the wrath of God cometh upon the children of unbelief, [7] In which you also walked some time, when you lived in them. [8] But now put you also all away: anger, indignation, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth.
Epistle of St Paul to the Colossians, Chapter 3
You SEEM to believe that you have the ability to read between the lines in order to conclude that ridiculous theories are truth. I won’t call you ignorant. But I will ask you where in Hell (literally) did you come up with the idea that I said or believe that hell is empty,?? Hell is FULL sir, with the souls of those who REJECTED the FINISHED work of Christ on their behalf. Christ died for sin ONCE. He doesn’t die daily at a mass. It is up to us to accept His DEATH as propitiation for our sins. Or reject His FINISHED work.
Hell will never be full.
Perhaps you will be bored one day and decide to peruse Paul’s epistles. Maybe you will stumble across Romans 2:16. “In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ ACCORDING TO MY GOSPEL.” Maybe you will get curious...(hmmm, what is Paul speaking of when he says “My Gospel”...and where should I search for that GOSPEL that he states plainly men will be judged by??...maybe I should start in Paul’s letters and epistles to see what gospel he refers to... I am curious about this...)
OR
you could just dismiss his warning, eat another wafer, ask a priest to forgive you of your sins and give up fish on Fridays to show a good faith effort to be eligible for Heaven.
Take it. Or leave it. It’s NOT going to change just because you think you know a better way. It’s on YOU.
It’s pretty obvious that Hell is not full as in there is NO MORE ROOM.(REALLY..ARE YOU THAT CONFUSED??) Hell is FULL in that there are countless numbers of rejected souls of Christ’s FINISHED WORK ON THEIR behalf. Obviously there are people who reject Him daily. Who reject Christ’s work for their own “perceived” works of righteousness.
The fact that you have had to correct yourself so many times is pathetic.
The fact that you cannot understand BASIC understanding of words and meanings does not bode well for any credibility prize for you. Good luck with your “journey” to Heaven. You need to read the small print on your map. You’re on a dead end trip, going down a one way road, headed SOUTH, at full speed.
That's easy. It's in your posts #14, #17, #19, #21, #25, and #26. Any more questions?
So now you have presumed to be to be my judge.
How presumptious. Typical of you prots.
You SEEM to be an idiot. Talking to you is like trying to describe a rainbow to a blindman. I don’t say this often but I do hope you are rewarded handsomely for the path you have chosen.
You SEEM to be a heretic.
A “heretic” from WHAT? THE RCC?!! LOL!
Apparently, you don’t even know what the term “heritic”’ is.
I’m not surprised.
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