Rome, Italy, Jan 29, 2007 / 09:37 am
Why is Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, Archbishop Emeritus of Milan, distancing himself from the Church on an issue as critical as that of euthanasia? Vatican analyst Sandro Magister provides the complex answer to that question in his latest weekly column set to be released tomorrow.
The secular press has given wide coverage to the decision by Cardinal Martini to write a front-page article for Italy’s top business daily “Il Sole 24 ore,” in which he justifies certain forms of euthanasia that are not only against the teachings of the Church, but also in clear opposition to recent statements by Pope Benedict XVI on the issue.
In Magister’s article, to be published in four languages this Tuesday, the Vaticanista offers a unique angle on the debate in Italy, which heated up after the death of Piergiorgio Welby, a paralyzed man who demanded and obtained euthanasia with the cooperation of doctor.
According to Magister, the decision by Cardinal Martini to set himself on a collision course with the Italian bishops and with the Holy See is “a controversy that has its own immediate explosiveness, its history, and its developments.”
The article will be published by the Italian weekly “L’Espresso” and will include the responses that Martini’s article has generated and that have been largely ignored by the Italian and international press. The article can be read Tuesday at http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/index.jsp?eng=y