Remember when people used to give a s**t about what Popes thought?

I'm glad those days are past us.

"President Giorgio Napolitano refused to sign the decree, saying it defied court rulings that allowed Englaro's feeding tubes to be removed and violated the fundamental separation of executive and judicial branches."

Good sense on his part.

Is she even Catholic?

Why is death viewed as such a horror?

This poor woman's family! She's been a vegetable almost half of her life, that must be so hard to deal with. They should have donated her organs and taken her off life support years ago.
And a question for the religious folks, isn't her soul trapped in her body? Can she not get into Heaven (or whatever afterlife) while her body is still alive?

Are there any of us that wish to be sustained in a vegetative state for years while we slowly curl up into a cocoon-like pre-death icon?

Certainly not me. (Dolly take note.)

Will religion ever be content with affecting the lives of only their own believers?

And this from the same guy who exonerated the Bishop that denies the Holocaust?

I've promised to return and haunt anyone who subjects me to such a horror.

Honestly, at that point, is it even really a big deal if the state wants to keep you alive? I mean, not being able to think at all, I couldn't give two s**ts if the state wanted to keep me alive. As long as it doesn't become a financial burden to my family.

What gives the pope the right to interfere with someone's dying wish? Not a damn thing.
If I ever become a vegetable, kill me. I refuse to live like that.

Just to the taxpayers?

Live ? She's dead. The only thing that keeps her alive are machines.

*gross analogy coming* It is like beheading a snake, and the body lives on. Today we could keep that body alive, but what is the point ? Its head is gone. Some deal with vegative state people. They...are...dead. The body just simply has figured that out yet.

I would never ever want to live in a vegetative state, or be kept alive by machines.

It really is no "life". And I wouldn't want to burden my family emotionally or financially no matter how much they would want to keep me alive.

There comes a time when you need to let go. Especially when that person has absolutely no quality of life.

I do not believe I would want to be in a vegetative state. The emotional and financial burden it would cause my family is too much for me to even consider. Please pull my plug and give my organs to someone who needs them.

Yes, your body is a placeholder, so until its gone, your soul is still trapped inside it.

*my beliefs below*

However, you don't go to Heaven....you go to "waiting". It is said that when Christ comes again, all those who worship him will RISE then. So, until then, your soul is in waiting, roaming the earth, watching other people pick their noses in private..lol.

There is nothing wrong with what the Pope said. I just think he's using this as a way to remind people, not advocating keeping the person on feeding tubes.

I will quote the section on euthanasia in the Catechism of the Catholic Church to illustrate my point. This is official teaching:
(emphasis mine)
Source:

the pope - with more money than many countries yet denounces greed - who actually thinks he is infallible in certain areas needs to shut the f**k up unless Eluana Englaro calls him grandpa Ratzinger.

The moment I reach a point where I will be unable to give back more than I receive...I'm ending my life/I want someone to end it for me. And I'm not just talking about being in a vegetative state.

Forcing someone to be a drain on society is NOT a moral thing to do. It's disgusting and it deprives people who actually stand a chance the treatment they deserve.

It really bothers me that people are so adamant about forcing others to live. It's cruel to force someone who is undergoing extreme pain and suffering, or who is unable to do anything beyond crap themselves to live. I don't care if they believe that person will go to hell. It's not their f**king job to decide that.

What of the emotional burden?

If you haven't dealt with it, you can't understand what it's like. Going and sitting with their body--not with them, they are long gone. They haven't been around...but you still have to deal with this fleshy reminder that they once were. This pasty face, that hasn't seen the sun, that can't see the sun, that once smiled and said your name. Eyes that sometimes open and stare blindly, unknowingly into yours...No longer the window to a soul, they're now just a window to a sadly empty room. Holding a hand that is warm but doesn't grasp your fingers tight any longer.

The rising guilt when you can't make it one day.

The torment of wishing your friend, your brother, your parent was back, and could take you in their arms...instead of just staring at this empty shell.

I went through it for a few months. I can not imagine the horror of dealing with this for year after year, and then the rudeness of someone totally removed sitting in judgment.


If families WANT to have go through this, more power to them. It's certainly not my place to say which plugs should be pulled. But I'll be damned if I will agree that anyone else has the right to force me or my loved ones into this fate. I've dealt with the deaths of many family members and friends. Those deaths that were fast, even if unexpected, were far less brutal than lingering in a coma.

I don't mean to be rude but what does any kind of religious mumbo jumbo, made up 'rules' have to do with real life and real emotions. God ain't here living our lives and suffering like we do is he? Even if he existed he'd have f**k all right to tell us how to live our lives.

I'm not saying that the Pope has the right to force people to do anything. I'm just explaining that the official teaching of the Church isn't to keep people alive if they are on life support if they are brain dead, which seems to be the prevailing view. If they are brain dead, and deteriorating, then keeping them on life support is delaying the inevitable death, and so it wouldn't be wrong, according to Church teaching, to take them off.

That's all I'm saying. You can do as you please, I'm just trying to remove misconception here. All I saw here was that the Pope was using this event to remind people of what I quoted above. And by the way, whether they are made up 'rules' or 'religious mumbo jumbo' it makes logical sense to me regardless.

And by the way, if the family wants to remove life support of this person, it's their right and I agree with them. It's not conflicting to do so. I'm saddened that it's become a political thing.

f**k the pope

i was going to say 'the pope should keep quiet about something or get with the times ' i see u put it a better way!

Whats wrong with it is that the Catechism you quoted is for the Catholic mind. The Pope should direct his proclamations to Catholics only and not advise, campaign against, or intefere with people who do not accept that dogma. "Reminding" people who are not part of the "faithful" is overstepping the line of "mind your own business."

That goes for any other religious figureheads as well. Just stay out of the lives of people who differ in opinion.