Catholic Replies
Q. An article in a recent issue of The Wanderer quoted Pope Francis as saying that “we Catholics have…many who believe in the absolute truth and go ahead dirtying the other with calumny, with disinformation, and doing evil. We have to combat it; religious fundamentalism is not religious.”
Now I believe in the absolute truth of the Nicene Creed and the divinely inspired teaching Magisterium of the Church and the inerrancy of Sacred Scripture. All faithful Catholics that I know believe the same. Therefore, I must ask the following: Just who are these fundamentalist Catholics? What are the absolute truths that they are spreading? How does that do evil? Has our Holy Father been misquoted? — D.M., Virginia.
A. No, Pope Francis was not misquoted. He made these remarks to reporters on a flight from Africa to Rome on November 30. The problem with these off-the-cuff comments is that we don’t know for sure what the Holy Father means by “religious fundamentalism,” or what statements are being made that “dirty” the other person, or who is making these statements. He said something similar in an interview with an Argentinean journalist on September 13, 2015:
“No religion is immune from its own fundamentalists. In any confession there will be a small group of fundamentalists whose work is to destroy the interests of an idea, not of a reality. Reality is superior to an idea. God, whether in Judaism, in Christianity, or in Islam, in the faith of those three peoples, accompanies God’s people with His presence. In the Bible we see it, Muslims in the Koran. Our God is a God of nearness, which accompanies. Fundamentalists push God away from the companionship of His people.
“They dis-incarnate Him, they transform Him into an ideology. Therefore, in the name of this ideological God, they kill, attack, destroy, and calumniate. Practically, they transform this God into a Baal, into an idol.”
Again, we are not sure whom he was talking about. What is also of concern, though, in the November 30 interview, was the Holy Father’s response to a question about whether the Church will ever permit the use of condoms to combat AIDS. He said that condoms are one method of prevention and that the Church must decide between following the commandment which says, “You shall not kill,” or the teaching that says sexual relations must be “open to life.” But this particular question, he said, is “not the problem” when there are so many suffering people in the world. He explained:
“Let’s not talk about if one can use this type of patch or that for a small wound. The serious wound is social injustice, environmental injustice. I don’t like to go down to reflections on such case studies when people die due to a lack of water, hunger, environment. . . . When all are cured, when there aren’t these illnesses, tragedies that man makes, whether for social injustice or to earn more money — I think of the trafficking of arms — when these problems are no longer there, I think we can ask the question…[about condoms to prevent AIDS].”
Q. Could you tell me what is the stand of the Catholic Church and the Catechism of the Catholic Church on a terminally ill or very sick person as to removing a ventilator, stopping the feeding of a person, having a “do not resuscitate” order, and donating organs? I live alone and do not have any relatives, but have a will with an executor of my estate, not for money purposes but for someone to handle my situation if I am not able to. — W.B., via e-mail.
A. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (n. 2277) says that any “act or omission which, of itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator.” Paragraph 2278 says that “discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate; it is the refusal of ‘overzealous’ treatment. Here one does not will to cause death; one’s inability to impede it is merely accepted. The decisions should be made by the patient if he is competent and able or, if not, by those legally entitled to act for the patient, whose reasonable will and legitimate interests must always be respected.”
Paragraph 2279 says that “even if death is thought imminent, the ordinary care owed to a sick person cannot be legitimately interrupted. The use of painkillers to alleviate the sufferings of the dying, even at the risk of shortening their days, can be morally in conformity with human dignity if death is not willed as either an end or a means, but only foreseen and tolerated as inevitable.”
So a person who is terminally ill, or a health-care proxy designated by the person who knows the patient’s wishes, may refuse “overzealous” or extraordinary treatment if such treatment constitutes a burden to the person or offers no reasonable chance of improving the person’s medical condition. Giving a terminally ill person nutrition and hydration is ordinary care and must be continued unless even that treatment is burdensome to the patient, for example, their body is no longer able to absorb food and water. Refusing such treatment, said St. John Paul II, “is not the equivalent of suicide or euthanasia; it rather expresses acceptance of the human condition in the face of death” (Evangelium Vitae, n. 65).
The acceptance of the human condition allows you to have a properly worded “do not resuscitate” order by which you rule out extraordinary treatment once your life has ended. It is also morally permissible to donate your organs provided that you or your proxy has given informed consent and that the organs are not removed until after you have died. Donating one’s organs, said St. John Paul, is a “particularly praiseworthy” gesture “with a view to offering a chance of health and even of life itself to the sick who sometimes have no other hope” (Evangelium Vitae, n. 86).
Q. A woman’s husband is terminal in the hospital and has a stomach tube in place for medication purposes. He was taking food by mouth, but now he is losing his ability to swallow. If they begin to feed him through the stomach tube, already in place, then he will be taken off hospice care and his wife will have to bear the great costs involved in his care. What are her options and obligations? — D.A., Utah.
A. We don’t know enough about the circumstances of this case to answer the question completely. As noted in the previous reply, the administration of food and water, even through a feeding tube, is ordinary treatment and should be continued unless it is burdensome or useless to the patient.
We don’t know why the man would be taken off hospice care if he begins to be fed through a tube, or why his medical expenses would suddenly become his wife’s responsibility.
This doesn’t seem right. Is this an effort by the hospital to pressure the wife into letting her husband die? Obviously, she cannot agree to any direct action or omission that would end her husband’s life. Is there someone she trusts who could advocate for her and her husband? It might be worthwhile if she were to seek advice on this problem from the National Catholic Bioethics Center (www.ncbcenter.org).
Q. In our parish bulletin (see enclosed copy), my pastor made some comments about Purgatory that I’m not sure are correct. Can you help me? — M.G., Alabama.
A. In the bulletin, the pastor wrote the following:
“What is also important is that in our private prayers we do not forget relatives, friends, and benefactors who have died and might be in Purgatory. Purgatory is a firm teaching of the Church. However, there is a great reading in the Book of Wisdom which indicates that many do not go to Purgatory, while we know many do. The problem is God does not tell us who is in Purgatory.”
First of all, congratulations to your pastor for urging prayers for the souls in Purgatory; not all pastors do this. Second, he is right that we don’t know who is in Purgatory. We all have friends and relatives who led apparently very holy lives, but since we can’t be sure they’re in Heaven, we keep praying for their souls anyway. If they have reached Heaven, then God will apply our prayers to souls who are in need of them.
