Mar 31, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Hours after the court ordered starvation of 41-year old Terri Schiavo had come to a tear-filled end yesterday, religious leaders and organizations around the world wasted no time speaking out against what Cardinal William Keeler, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called a “human tragedy.”
A nearly decade-long legal battle had ensued between Terri’s family, and husband Michael Schiavo, who claimed that his wife would never have wanted to be kept alive in her brain-damaged state.
A Florida judge eventually sided with Michael, and had Terri’s feeding tube, which provided her with food and hydration, removed on March 18th.
Cardinal Keeler added that, “We are all diminished by this woman's death, a death that speaks to the moral confusion we face today. Ours is a culture in which human life is increasingly devalued and violated, especially where that life is most weak and fragile.”
”We pray, he continued, that, “this human tragedy will lead our nation to a greater commitment to protect helpless patients and all the weakest among us.”