Sunday, December 17, 2017

re: "Vatican releases updated guidelines for bioethical questions" (Catholic News Service / OSV Newsweekly, 2/6/17)

Gretchen R. Crowe, Editor-in-Chief
Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly,
200 Noll Plaza
Huntington, IN 46750
osvletters@osv.com

Dear Ms. Crowe,

Back in February, you announced the updating of the Vatican's original Charter for Health Care Workers (Vatican Radio listed those "new references of the Magisterium, after 1994, that appear in the [updated] Charter."). Thanks to the translation work of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, hard copies of the New Charter for Health Care Workers are now available in English.  It is simply the best compendium of Catholic medical ethics / bioethics, to be supplemented with relevant medical information and original magisterial teaching.  

Like the original, the New Charter consists of sections on procreating, living, and dying, between its introduction and conclusion.  In its introduction, it reminds us that the vocation of health care is to be greatly honored.  All that it then goes on to proclaim about human procreation rests on the truth, that “11….The inseparable bond between conjugal love and human generation, imprinted on the nature of the human person, is a law by which everyone must be guided and to which everyone is held.”  While the Church clearly prohibits embryo "transfers," some suggested the possibility of an exception for "embryo adoption" (aka, "snowflake adoption") was not settled with Dignitas Personae (n. 18-19) of 2008.  I find nothing in the New Charter to sustain the idea of an exception.

The section on "Living" is the Charter's largest, covering a vast array of areas.  Like Dignitas Personae (n. 23), the New Charter offers NO guidelines for any supposed "moral" use of either "interceptives" or "contragestatives."  It has long struck me as disingenuous to deny or downplay the very, very real risk of causing an abortion by emergency [so-called] contraception in Catholic hospital emergency rooms (cf., 
While footnote #167 might seem to infer a favorable judgment on the use of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, Dignitas Personae (n. 30) appears to preclude their use.  Dr. Diane Irving has told us that "'Some iPS cell are potentially embryos'....Given the ability of cells to be reverted to the embryonic stage, she said, 'any human cell can be used for reproductive purposes,' so pro-life people must start making very careful distinctions about what type of cell is being created and used and the methods used to obtain them" (LifeSiteNews, 4/23/13).

While some have acted as though the Church has already issued a definitive judgement on brain death criteria, Dr. Peter Colosi (Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly, 8/8/12) reminds us that "The medical studies of Dr. Alan Shewmon of UCLA Medical School are quite convincing indications that brain dead people are not dead, or at the very least that we do not have moral certainty that they are."  The updated Charter includes this 2008 cautious quote from Pope Benedict XVI: “In an area such as this, in fact, there cannot be the slightest suspicion of arbitration and where certainty has not been attained the principle of precaution must prevail. This is why it is useful to promote research and interdisciplinary reflection to place public opinion before the most transparent truth on the anthropological, social, ethical and juridical implications of the practice of transplantation."

The Charter's section on "Dying" also speaks of "Civil laws and conscientious objection."  Personally, I wish that the Charter reprinted - in its entirety - a 6/9/05 letter from the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, in which he reviewed "The principle of licit cooperation in evil."


Thank you,

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

re: Vatican Updates Health Care Charter (National Catholic Register, 2/13/17)

Thanks to the translation work of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, hard copies of the Vatican's Updated Charter for Health Care Workers are now available in English.  It is the best compendium of Catholic medical ethics / bioethics, which you will want to supplement with relevant medical information and original magisterial teaching.  Like the original, the updated charter consists of sections on procreating, living, and dying, between its introduction and conclusion.

In its introduction, the Charter reminds us that the vocation of health care is to be greatly honored.  All that the it proclaims about procreation rests on the truth that “11….The inseparable bond between conjugal love and human generation, imprinted on the nature of the human person, is a law by which everyone must be guided and to which everyone is held.”  While the Church clearly prohibits so-called embryo "transfers" from one woman to another, some have suggested - even after the Vatican's Dignitas Personae of 2008 - that a door might be yet be ajar for consideration of exceptions for so-called "snowflake adoptions." I find nothing in the Charter to support this.

The section on "Living" is the largest in the Charter and covers a vast array of areas, including potentially abortifacient "interceptives" and "contraceptives."
Like Dignitas Personae before it, the Charter offers NO guidelines for any supposed "moral" use of interceptives or contragestatives, indicating the need for change in practices at Catholic hospitals.  From a medical standpoint, Doctors (Rev.) Juan Vélez, Rebecca Peck, Chris Kahlenborn, Walter B. Severs, Walter Rella, Julio Tudelo, Justo Aznar and Bruno Moznegga, as well as the Catholic Medical Association, have been warning us that there is NO way to use interceptives or contraceptives without the very real risk of causing abortion.

While footnote #167 might seem to infer a favorable judgment on the use of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, Section 30 of Dignitas Personae appears to preclude their use.  Dr. Diane Irving tells us that "'Some iPS cell are potentially embryos'....Given the ability of cells to be reverted to the embryonic stage, she said, 'any human cell can be used for reproductive purposes,' so pro-life people must start making very careful distinctions about what type of cell is being created and used and the methods used to obtain them" (LifeSiteNews, 4/23/13).

The Church has NOT issued a definitive judgement on brain death criteria.  Dr. Peter Colosi (Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly, 8/8/12) notes that "The medical studies of Dr. Alan Shewmon of UCLA Medical School are quite convincing indications that brain dead people are not dead, or at the very least that we do not have moral certainty that they are."  The updated Charter includes this 2008 cautious quote from Pope Benedict XVI: “In an area such as this, in fact, there cannot be the slightest suspicion of arbitration and where certainty has not been attained the principle of precaution must prevail. This is why it is useful to promote research and interdisciplinary reflection to place public opinion before the most transparent truth on the anthropological, social, ethical and juridical implications of the practice of transplantation."

Looking at The Updated Charter for Healthcare Workers (excerpts with comments and pictures added)

The original Charter for Health Care Workers is available online.  Hard copies of the English translation of the Updated Charter are now available. Vatican Radio (2/6/17) noted that "The new references of the Magisterium, after 1994, that appear in the Charter are [with links added]:
John Paul II’s Encyclical letter Evangelium vitae (1995);
John Paul II, Discourse to participants in the International Congress on transplants (29 August 2000), no. 4: AAS 92 (2000), 823-824;
The Encyclical Letters of Benedict XVI, Spe salvi on Christian hope (2007) and Caritas in veritate (2009);
Benedict XVI, Discourse to participants in the International Congress promoted by the Pontifical Academy for Life on the theme of organ donation (2008);
Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, on the proclamation of the Gospel in Today’s World (2013);
Pope Francis, Message to the participants in the General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of its institution (2014);
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Responsa ad quaestiones ab Episcopali Conferentia Foederatorum Americae Statuum propositas circa cibum et potum artificialiter praebenda [English translation] (2007);
The Instruction of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Dignitas personae (2008);
Pontifical Academy for Life, Prospects for Xenotransplantation - Scientific Aspects and Ethical Considerations (Vatican City, 2001);
Pontifical Academy for Life, Moral reflections on vaccines prepared from cells derived from aborted human foetuses (2005)."




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