[Apologetics] TERRI SCHIAVO'S DEATH WAS MURDER, SAYS FR. PAVONE

[Art Kelly]

6-April-2005 -- Catholic News Agency   

TERRI SCHIAVO'S DEATH WAS MURDER, SAYS FR. PAVONE

NEW YORK, USA, April 6 (CNA) - The leader of a
national pro-life organization reiterated his previous
statements yesterday that Terri Schiavo's death was
murder. 

"Terri Schiavo was in fact murdered by being deprived
of food and water for 13 days," said Fr. Frank Pavone,
national director of Priests for Life. The priest had
received criticism for making that same statement
immediately following Schiavo's death last week.

The 41-year-old brain-damaged woman died March 31
after her feeding tube removed March 18 by court
order. The court order was the result of a years-long
legal battle between her husband, Michael Schiavo, and
her parents. The court ruled in favor of her husband,
who argued that Terri had expressed to him that she
would not want to be kept alive under these
conditions.

"The reason Michael Schiavo's attorney George Felos
was so upset that I said this is because he is a
euthanasia advocate, and the only way to advance
euthanasia is to sugar-coat it, and never call it
murder. But it is," said Fr. Pavone. 

"Moreover, it is inaccurate to describe Terri
Schiavo's death as peaceful and gentle," he continued.
"I was with her for several hours the night before she
died and again the next morning, up until 10 minutes
before she died. She was in an agony unlike anything I
have ever seen, and to describe it in any other way is
irresponsible and dishonest.

Fr. Pavone acknowledged Felos' plea that he "speak
words of compassion and reconciliation."

"I have indeed done so publicly over recent months,"
said Fr. Pavone. "But compassion does not mean
compromising the truth, and reconciliation is possible
only when one repents of doing evil acts like killing.


"The role of a priest, moreover, is not simply to make
people feel good, but to denounce injustice and
proclaim truth, no matter how discomforting it may
be," he added.



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