The body of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, OSB, lies in the basement of the church of the Abbey of Our Lady of Ephesus outside Gower, Missouri, on May 28, 2023. / Joe Bukuras/CNA
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 22, 2024 / 18:03 pm (CNA).
The resul… […]
Former President of Planned Parenthood Cecile Richards speaks on stage during the third day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 21, 2024 in Chicago. / Credit: Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
CNA Staff, Au… […]
India’s supreme court building is pictured in New Delhi on July 9, 2018. / Credit: SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images
New Delhi, India, Aug 22, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).
Catholic leaders in India have lauded the country’s high court for rejecting a plea for “passive euthanasia” from the parents of a 30-year-old man who has been in a vegetative state for 11 years.
Commenting on the August 20 verdict issued by a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Dhananjaya Chandrachud, Archbishop Raphy Manjaly of the Archdiocese of Agra, the chairman of the doctrinal commission of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, said: “We would like to congratulate the Court for its unambiguous verdict while calling for support for the family facing a serious crisis.”
“We are extremely happy that the sacredness of life has been upheld by the court,” the prelate told CNA on Aug 22.
In 2021 the Delhi High Court rejected a plea of the parents for euthanasia for their son. “The facts indicate that the petitioner is not being kept alive mechanically and is able to sustain himself without any external aid,” the court said.
When the lawyer for the distressed parents of the 30-year old man — who fell from a hostel balcony in 2013 while studying for engineering and had been comatose since then — told the Supreme Court that the family had sold their house to pay for their son’s treatment, the chief justice admitted the court was “moved by the plight of the parents.”
“Can some alternative be introduced?” Chandrachud asked. “Both parents are aging. Is there any facility where [the patient] can be lodged, and the expenses covered? He is suffering from bed sores.”
Yet the court “cannot permit passive euthanasia as he is not on a life support system,” the justice said. The patient is fed through a nasal tube.
In 2018 the Supreme Court said Indian law “prohibits anyone, including a physician, from causing the death of another person by administering any lethal drug, even if the objective is to relieve the patient from pain and suffering.”
“Passive” euthanasia, meanwhile, is allowed in cases where doctors remove patients from mechanical life support. The removal of nasal feeding tubes is not allowed under that rule.
Archbishop Manjaly noted that “while taking a clear pro-life stance, the judgment acknowledges that there is definitely a crisis.”
“The suffering family cannot be pushed into a corner. We are happy that the court insists on community support for the distraught family,” he pointed out.
The prelate of the Taj Mahal city of Agra also recounted how Aruna Shanbaug, a nurse brutalized by a janitor while on hospital duty in 1973, remained in vegetative condition for 41 years with the nursing community in the Mumbai hospital taking care of her until her death in 2015.
“Society needs such compassion to care for the needy. The Church stands for that,” Manjaly said.
California, Texas and Florida are among the U.S. states with the most Spanish-language masses. Pictured here is historic San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio, Texas. / Shutterstock
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 22, 2024 / 15:30 pm (CNA).
A fi… […]
null / Ariya J, Shutterstock.
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 22, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).
A Canadian non-profit filed a legal challenge against the federal government, calling for an expansion of the country’s euthanasia program to allow physicia… […]
Vienna Skyline with St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna, Austria. / mrgb/shutterstock.
CNA Newsroom, Aug 22, 2024 / 14:15 pm (CNA).
On the occasion of the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Violence Based on Religion or Belief (Aug.22), a European watchdog warned of serious anti-Christian violence in Europe and called on governments to protect converts from Islam in particular.
The Vienna-based Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC Europe) has reported an increase in anti-Christian hate crimes by 44%.
Though the OIDAC Europe 2022/23 Annual Report reports the majority of the 749 cases of anti-Christian hate crimes were acts of vandalism or arson, the religious freedom watchdog noted a marked increase in violent attacks against individual people.
Executive Director of OIDAC Europe, Anja Hoffmann, said the rising threats against Christians in countries across Europe are alarming and should not be overlooked, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.
Since the beginning of 2024, OIDAC Europe has documented 25 cases of violence, threats and attempted murder against Christians in Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Poland and Serbia.
In some cases, entire communities have been attacked.
In June this year, there was an attack on a Seventh-day Adventist congregation in Dijon during a church service. The tear gas attack sparked panic and left nine people injured, the watchdog’s statement said.
Hoffmann also highlighted the need to protect and support Christian converts from Islam who are viewed as “apostates.”
The watchdog cited the example of a British court case that sentenced a man to life in prison for attempting to murder Javed Nouri, a Muslim convert to Christianity. According to the prosecutor, Alid considered Nouri an apostate and “therefore somebody who deserved to die.”
Hoffmann called on European governments to act: “The right to convert is an essential element of religious freedom. European governments must therefore do everything in their power to protect Christian converts with a Muslim background in particular, who are at high risk.”
In an Aug. 22 press release, the German Bishops Conference deplored the steady increase of violence against Christians and people of other faiths.
Bishop Bertram Meier of Augsburg in Bavaria, chairman of the German bishops’ Commission for the Universal Church, said governments and religious communities have to take on more responsibility and work together to curb the rise of religious violence.
“All states have the responsibility to counteract violations of human rights and thus also religious freedom. Where this does not happen, or where the state itself attacks these rights, discrimination and ultimately violence, especially against religious minorities, are not far away,” insisted Meier.
The International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief was instituted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2019.
The ACLU is petitioning South Carolina to allow media interviews with Marion Bowman, who has sat on death row for more than two decades. / Credit: South Carolina Department of Corrections.
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 22, 2024 / 11:45 am (CNA… […]
The King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels on September 4, 2020. / Credit: MARTIN BUREAU/AFP via Getty Images
Vatican City, Aug 22, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Tickets for Pope Francis’ Mass in King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels at the end of September so… […]
Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski is leading a campaign that will highlight various reasons to vote against the amendment, including that it allows third-trimester abortions and eliminates a law requiring parental consent for minors obtaining abort… […]
Pope Francis made his remarks on synodality during an annual meeting for moderators of international associations of the faithful, ecclesial movements, and new communities, organized by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life on June 13, 2024. … […]
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