called them all and sure wish I could go in and talk to each one.
VATICAN AGAINST U.S. JUDGE
(AGI) - Vatican City, Mar 11 - The Church strongly repeats its 'no' against euthanasia, this time with Mons. Elio Sgreccia, President of the Pontificia Accademia per la Vita, who makes a stand on the event involving the American
Mrs Terri Schiavo, according to whom, on the local judge's order and on her husband's request, her gastric tube which keeps her living will be removed.
On the radio program of One O Five Live, belonging to the Radio Vaticana, he said: "Even if it is not habitual of this Academy to interject supporting specific cases of human suffering or threats to life, Mrs Terri Schiavo's
case goes beyond individual situations due to her exemplary character and the importance that the media have rightly attributed to it.
Silence, in this case, could have been interpreted as approval, with consequences that could go greatly beyond the specific case". The American woman, according to Mons. Sgreccia "should be considered a living human,
deprived of full conscience, whose juridical rights should be recognized, respected and defended". Without any half measures, Mons. Sgreccia observed
that "the removal of the gastric probe from her, in these conditions, could be considered direct euthanasia, because it is an integral part of the way in which Mrs Terri Schiavo can be fed and hydrated.
As far as we can see prohibiting someone access to food and water represents a ruthless way to kill that person. We feel it our duty to affirm that such a decision goes against the rights of Mrs Terri Schiavo and therefore
constitutes an abuse of the juridical authority". If the decision to remove the tube will be confirmed "a juridical precedence would be created and
would present euthanasia as a right in the Court of the United States, with grave consequences that can easily be imagined for the lives of many other
people, more or less autonomous, in this country and in others. For this reason we consider the decision to remove the tube from Mrs Terri Schiavo
illicit". (AGI)
111640 MAR 05
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