On the wire this morning comes the troubling news that Pope John Paul II is now being nourished through a feeding tube. Why in the world would we use the precious resources of the Church to artificially maintain an elderly prelate who has outlived his usefulness?
My goodness, the aging bishop of Rome couldn’t even speak a blessing over the Romans on Easter. What good is he? Not just is he having trouble breathing and eating normally, which greatly restricts his effectiveness as Catholic leader, but his body is wracked with Parkinson’s Disease. And that isn’t going to be going away any time soon.
Let’s use some logic here. It’s time for a new Pope and there are quite a number in men in red prepared to step in. If there’s anyone who is ready to meet his Maker, it’s got to be this wonderful Pope who has served so long, so well. It’s practically a moral imperative for us to unplug him.
(jk)
Yes, that’s where the culture of death will take us!
Old Man on A Feeding Tube: Extending Schiavo Ethics to the Pope
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
--James Jewell
Posted by rooftop at 3:52 PM
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2 comments:
Do you honestly think that the presence of a feeding tube means that the Pope has lost his brain function? Do you truly think that the Pope's ailment is equivalent to being in a PVS? Because, if you don't, you're using two sad situations to make a false and misleading argument - which would mean you lack intellectual integrity. I hope that's not the case, and that you simply don't understand the first thing about the facts of either case.
My parody was intentionally hyperbolic. The situations are not identical, but the willingness to kill Terri because she had lost her usefuleness, had become severely handicapped, suggests an ethic that dangerously devalues life. As we head that direction, the ridiculous--the parody on the Pope--becomes less more likely.
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