Santiago, Chile, Jul 26, 2008 / 12:30 pm
In response to the commotion caused by the death of Chilean woman who was a Jehovah’s Witness and refused a blood transfusion, Bishop Alejandro Goic of Rancagua explained that “respecting the conscience of each person” does not override the duty “to safeguard respect for life.”
Bishop Goic, who is president of the Bishops’ Conference of Chile, lamented the death of Edith Morales, a 52 year-old Chilean woman who died in Rancagua of leukemia after refusing to receive blood transfusions, which she said went against her religious beliefs, despite efforts by her family members to persuade her to accept them.
Bishop Goic expressed condolences to her family members and noted that Morales “belonged to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who totally reject blood transfusions as a means of treatment.” Their belief, he said, is based on their interpretation of some passages in the Old Testament which prohibit blood transfusions.
“What do we say about these interpretations? Jesus Christ taught us that the old prohibitions of food have no meaning in the New Covenant. ‘The Kingdom of God is not a matter of food or drink, but of justice and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit’ (Rom. 14:17). It is not clear how the Jehovah’s Witnesses deduce from the prohibition against eating the blood of animals in the Old Testament the prohibition against blood transfusions that are precisely aimed to save human life,” the bishop said.