Catholic hospitals defy Pope on feeding tubes

Signs of the Great Apostasy:

Catholic hospitals defy John Paul II on feeding tubes directive: the Vatican says never starve the ill, but U.S. bishops say...

"And I repeat again to all clergy in My Son's House: you shall not rationalize sin. Abortion is murder, and murder condemns you to hell without repentance! Euthanasia is murder, and murder condemns you to hell without repentance! The Commandments of your God must be followed, and no changes will be made upon them to suit the basic fallen nature of mankind." - Our Lady of the Roses, November 20, 1979

Newsmax reported on April 16, 2004:

Roman Catholic hospitals are reassuring patients they'll honor living wills in the wake of a papal pronouncement that hospitals should never remove feeding tubes from patients in persistent vegetative states.
     In a talk March 20, Pope John Paul II said that feeding and hydrating such patients is "morally obligatory," and that withdrawing feeding tubes constitutes "euthanasia by omission." Since then, American bishops, theologians and ethicists have been studying the issue closely to see what the pope's words will mean for hospital operations in the United States.
     For now, many hospitals are deferring to the "Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services," commonly called ERDs, outlined by the U.S. Conference on Catholic Bishops.
     According to those guidelines, feeding tubes for people in chronically vegetative states are "medical treatment" that can be continued or halted based on the benefits and burdens for patient and family.
     Such guidelines call for following directives set out in advance by people who do not want life-prolonging medical treatments, as long as the person's wishes don't conflict with Catholic moral teachings, including the church's ban on euthanasia.

*******

Many people are ignorant of the Church's teaching regarding ordinary nursing care towards extremely ill or terminally ill patients. The Church states that "decisions about these patients should be guided by a presumption in favor of medically-assisted nutrition and hydration” and that for patients, even in an irreversible coma, "all care should be lavished on him, including feeding." Recently, Pope John Paul II has emphasized that death by starvation or dehydration carried out "consciously or deliberately is truly euthanasia by omission."

Pope John Paul II, March 20, 2004:
The Holy Father emphasized that water and food, even when administered artificially, are "a natural means of preserving life, not a medical procedure. Therefore, their use must be considered ordinary and appropriate and as such, morally obligatory."
The probability that there is little hope for recovery, "when the vegetative state lasts longer than a year, cannot ethically justify abandoning or interrupting basic care, including food and hydration, of a patient." Death by starvation or dehydration carried out "consciously or deliberately is truly euthanasia by omission."
The Pope recalled the "moral principal according to which even the slightest doubt of being in the presence of a person who is alive requires full respect and prohibits any action that would anticipate his or her death. . The value of the life of a man cannot be subjected to the judgement of quality expressed by other men; it is necessary to promote positive activities to counteract pressure for the suspension of food and hydration, as a means to putting an end to the life of these patients."

Bishop Henry Gracida (interview with Barbara Kralis)
"Some Catholics would argue that they are simply following their conscience and that the Church allows them to do so. They choose to forget that the Church says that one can only safely follow an INFORMED CONSCIENCE, i.e., a conscience that has been formed and illuminated by the teachings of the Church. The Church has given clear and explicit guidelines regarding the removal of a feeding tube through which 'nutrition and hydration' is supplied to a sick person.
"All persons who wish to remain in communion with the Catholic Church, to receive Holy Communion and the other Sacraments, must assent to the teachings of the Church in matters of faith and morals. [3]
"If a person supports euthanasia and assisted-suicide through the illicit rejection or removal of a feeding tube, they are not in communion with the Church. They have separated themselves from the Church."

Pontifical Council on Health Affairs, “Cor Unum,” June 27, 1981:
“On the contrary, there remains the strict obligation to continue by all means those measures which are called ‘minimal’, which are intended normally and customarily for the maintenance of life (alimentation, blood transfusions, injections, etc.). To interrupt these minimal measures would be equivalent, in practice, to wishing to put an end to the life of the patient.”

Pontifical Academy of Sciences, October 1985:
“If the patient is in a permanent coma, irreversible as far as it can be foreseen, treatment is not required, but all care should be lavished on him, including feeding... If treatment is of no benefit to the patient, it may be interrupted while continuing with the care of the patient.”

U.S. Bishops, Nutrition and Hydration: Moral and Pastoral Reflections:
”Therefore we are gravely concerned about current attitudes and policy trends in our society that would too easily dismiss patients without apparent mental faculties as non-persons or as undeserving of human care and concern. In this climate, even legitimate moral arguments intended to have a careful and limited application can easily be misinterpreted, broadened, and abused by others to erode respect for the lives of some of our society’s most helpless members. In light of these concerns, it is our considered judgment that while legitimate Catholic moral debate continues, decisions about these patients should be guided by a presumption in favor of medically-assisted nutrition and hydration.”

New Jersey Catholic Conference, January 22, 1987:
Another pertinent statement regarding the nutrition/hydration debate was given by the New Jersey Catholic Conference on January 22, 1987 in a friend-of-the-court brief entitled, “Providing Food and Fluids to Severely Brain Damaged Patients.” This document was in reaction to the Nancy Ellen Jobes case pending at the time before the New Jersey Court:

"The [New Jersey Catholic] Conference maintains that nutrition and hydration, being basic to human life, are aspects of normal care, which are not excessively burdensome, that should always be provided to a patient. Nutrition and hydration are clearly distinguished from medical treatment. Medical treatment is aimed at curing a disease. Nutrition and hydration are directed at sustaining life. Medical treatment is therapeutic; nutrition and hydration are not, because they will not cure any disease. For that fundamental reason we insist that nutrition and hydration must always be maintained....” (Origins, January 22, 1987, p. 583)

"No man shall murder--and it is murder, My children, when he shall give the excuse of saying an individual is no longer living or a part of the world because he has become emaciated, because he lives only with prayers and the help of all scientific means." - Our Lady, June 5, 1976

"Who will be safe in your land, My children? You will one day grow old. Will you be a burden to your family, to be removed without heart? When you grow sick, you are ill, will you become too much of a burden to your society and they will remove you?" - Our Lady of the Roses, March 25, 1972

The awesome Bayside Prophecies... http://www.tldm.org/Bayside/default.htm
These prophecies came from Jesus, Mary, and the saints to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, NY, from 1968 to 1995:

EUTHANASIA
“The time will come, My child, when those who are upon the earth will envy those have passed beyond the veil. Insanity, sin. Sin is insanity. The aged will be put to death, the crippled will be put to death, the mentally ill will be eliminated. The value of life will be gone. The value for life will be destroyed. Murderers! Sanctioned among those with the power to destroy the souls!” – Jesus, March 18, 1974

TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
"No man shall murder--and it is murder, My children, when he shall give the excuse of saying an individual is no longer living or a part of the world because he has become emaciated, because he lives only with prayers and the help of all scientific means. The Eternal Father has placed a soul in that body. That body is the temple of the Holy Spirit! No man can know when that soul must return to the Eternal Father. No man shall hasten its exit from a body by murder! Euthanasia is murder! Shall you become a judge over the living and the dead?" - Our Lady, June 5, 1976

CONDEMNS TO HELL
"And I repeat again to all clergy in My Son's House: you shall not rationalize sin. Abortion is murder, and murder condemns you to hell without repentance! Euthanasia is murder, and murder condemns you to hell without repentance! The Commandments of your God must be followed, and no changes will be made upon them to suit the basic fallen nature of mankind.
"The road to Heaven, My children, is a narrow one; too few stay upon it. For they are often carried away with the cares of the world, and the pleasures of the materialistic pursuits, and their gathering of money and prestige and power. For what? For the few short years allotted to each human upon earth. I ask you to ask yourself: is it worth it to lose your soul? Many will sell their souls to get to the head." - Our Lady, November 20, 1979

START AND EXPIRATION OF LIFE
"The Eternal Father is much distressed by mankind's actions. They must not try to control the start and expiration of a life. Abortion is murder, My children, for you bring to an untimely end a mission of a soul. The Eternal Father breathes the spirit of life into the body at the moment of conception. No man shall destroy this body until it has completed its mission as directed by the Eternal Father, for any man who destroys the mission and the body is guilty of murder. Euthanasia, untimely death, My children, man has transgressed into a form of evil far worse than in the time of Noe or Sodom. Therefore, how great shall be the punishment to mankind!" - Our Lady, June 12, 1976

GREAT CHASTISEMENT
"My child and My children, the murders of the unborn will bring great chastisement upon the United States, Canada, and the nations of the world, that are now contributing not only to the delinquency of your children and the world's children, but are condoning murder and euthanasia. Euthanasia, My child and My children, is murder!
"We have been very patient. The Eternal Father has voiced His decision within My hearing, and I tell you, My children, your chastisement is just at hand." - Jesus, July 1, 1985

DOCTORS OF THE EARTH
"I have, O woe to man, this saddest of stories: one of man against man, brother against brother, mother against daughter, father against son, in the battle of the spirits. Now, O poor aged and helpless, poor on earth, you will now be victims of your own. Doctors of the earth, what have you done to yourselves in your practices? You do not seek to preserve life, but to destroy.” – Our Lady, March 18, 1973

Directives from Heaven... http://www.tldm.org/directives/directives.htm

D135 - Moral Issues PDF
D161 - The Great Apostasy PDF
D247 - Euthanasia & Murder

Links...

Catholics supporting the denial of 'nutrition and hydration' are not in communion with the Church, Barbara Kralis, May 4, 2005
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/kralis/050504

Half of infant deaths in Flanders, Belgium were euthanasia, U.K. Telegraph, April 9, 2005
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/04/09/weuth09.xml

Terri Schiavo's death was a murder says Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, April 5, 2005

http://www.earnedmedia.org/pfl0405.htm

Cardinal Clemens von Galen against Nazi euthanasia, The History Place
http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/galen.htm

The Humane Holocaust, American Spectator, April 1, 2005
http://www.americanprowler.com/dsp_article.asp?art_id=7971

Martin Katz on Terri Schiavo ("We have wounded our national character. By our actions, or inactions, we have placed ourselves one notch less, above the Nazis"), The American Thinker, March 30, 2005
http://www.americanthinker.com/comments.php?comments_id=1874

Press Misrepresents Catholic Teaching on End of Life Issues ("Food and water should always be seen as basic care"), Newsmax, March 30, 2005
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/3/29/222017.shtml

Bishop Thomas Wenski: The passion of Terri Schiavo
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-edpwenski20032005mar20,1,4133493.story?coll=orl-opinion-headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor rues abortion, Schiavo starvation

http://www.rcdow.org.uk/cardinal/default.asp?content_ref=343

Cardinal O'Brien, in Easter homily, blasts culture of death, Schiavo starvation
http://www.scmo.org/_titles/view.asp?id=359

Governor Bush is just following orders: "Good" Germans followed judges and other officials in obeying the law of the land 60 years ago, James Atticus Bowden, March 28, 2005
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/bowden/050328

Nazis used starvation to kill; is a war crime, Newsmax, March 26, 2005
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/3/26/183127.shtml

Giant leap towards Culture of Death, David Limbaugh, March 25, 2005
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/3/24/211436.shtml

Starved for justice, Ann Coulter, March 24, 2005
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43464

Vatican official: Terri facing cruel death, Newsmax, March 23, 2005
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/3/23/115029.shtml

Archbishop Chaput calls Schiavo’s starvation an ‘attack on the sanctity of human life’, Catholic News Agency, March 23, 2005
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=3428

Nazis: Pioneers in Medicine, Patrick Buchanan, March 23, 2005
http://www.theamericancause.org/a-pjb-050323-nazi.htm

A lie taken for the truth: The Terri Shiavo case, Newsmax, March 22, 2005
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/3/21/203724.shtml

The Gospel of Life, Pope John Paul II, March 25, 1995
http://www.ewtn.com/library/ENCYC/JP2EVANG.HTM

The electronic form of this document is copyrighted.
Quotations are permissible as long as this web site is acknowledged through hyperlink to: http://www.tldm.org
Copyright © These Last Days Ministries, Inc. 1996 - 2005 All rights reserved.
P.O. Box 40
Lowell, MI 49331-0040
Revised: July 30, 2018

We encourage everyone to print or email copies of this web page to all the Bishops and all the clergy. Also, send this page to as many people as possible.