Recent Catholic News

DUBLIN, Dec 18 (LSN) – Paddy Leahy, Ireland’s foremost euthanasia enthusiast, told reporters on Wednesday that he has gone to Thailand to find someone to help him die. The 80-year-old general practitioner, who has also campaigned for contraceptives and abortion in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation, made a last pathetic plea for legalizing euthanasia saying, “I think that the doctors there will look after me. If I get obstructed, I think they will come in and say I’ll put you out of pain. I’ll leave it to them. That would be a much nicer way.”

WARSAW, Poland, Dec 18 (LSN)—The Polish parliament has approved the decision by the Polish high court to overturn a liberal abortion law that was criticized by Pope John Paul II during his recent visit to his native land. The lax abortion law, imposed by the “former” communists who were voted in prior to the now ruling Solidarity government, allowed doctors to kill preborn children up to 12 weeks of age if the mother was deemed to face financial or emotional difficulties. Poland’s high court deemed the permissive law unconstitutional in May, but it remained in effect for six-months. On Wednesday, […]

The BBC is conducting a poll on whether euthanasia should be legal. Derek Humphry has already alerted members of the “right to die” mailing list to go to the BBC site and vote. If you would like to voice your opinion, just click on the following URL. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/talking%5Fpoint/newsid%5F38000/38414.asp

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 18 (LSN)—A retired Brazilian obstetrician saved the life of the baby of an eleven-year-old girl, who was scheduled to be aborted the next day. The heroic doctor travelled to the girl’s hometown of Sapucaia in Rio de Janeiro state, after hearing about her case on television, and persuaded the girl’s father to save the baby with the help of the local priest. The father, priest and doctor then rushed to Rio de Janeiro, where the girl had already been hospitalized awaiting the abortion. Claiming she was raped, the girl and her family asked Brazilian Judge Luiz […]

VANCOUVER, Dec 18 (LSN)—A poll on euthanasia released Monday saying that 70 per cent of Canadianssupport doctor assisted suicide is untrue according to Dr. Will Johnston, co-chair of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition of BC (EPC). Dr. Johnston pointed out that the Pollara poll, sponsored by Southam and Global news organizations, was “inaccurate” because it failed to define “doctor-assisted suicide”. ” Our results show many people still don’t understand terms like euthanasia and doctor- assisted suicide,” said Dr. Johnston. He suggests most people believe these terms refer to stopping artificial life support. Johnston noted that results from a poll conducted in […]

SYDNEY, Dec 17, (LSN) – In a report released Monday, at least 1,045 developmentally-disabled girls and women are said to have been sterilized without “authorization” in Australia since 1992. The report, commissioned by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, said the data used for the study were incomplete, and that the total number of operations could be three times higher. Elizabeth Hastings, the disability discrimination commissioner, added that, “Not only is federal law failing to protect the human rights of girls and young women, but Health Insurance Commission figures appear to show that illegal operations are funded via Medicare.”

NEW JERSEY, Dec 17 (LSN) – U.S. District Judge Anne Thompson granted a temporary injunction yesterday to stop the implementation of a law banning partial birth abortions in New Jersey. The action was in response to demands made by the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood of New Jersey. The order is valid until Dec. 24, when the judge will hear arguments on the constitutionality of the law.

VATICAN, Dec 17 (LSN) – Speaking at the reception of the diplomatic credentials of the new US Ambassador to the Holy See, Lindy Boggs, Pope John Paul II warned the United States to protect the right to life. Recalling that the “United States of America was founded on the conviction that an inalienable right to life was a self-evident moral truth,” the pope said that, “Whenever a certain category of people—the unborn or the sick and old—are excluded from that protection, a deadly anarchy subverts the original understanding of justice.” Sensing the perilous trends in US policy aimed at excluding […]

December 17, 1997 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE “Maybe now the punishment will fit the crime,” said Jim Hughes, National President of Campaign Life Coalition, the political arm of the pro-life movement in Canada. Mr Hughes was responding to news today that the Saskatchewan Justice Department will appeal the Dec. 1 sentence of Robert Latimer, the Wilkie-area farmer convicted of second-degree murder in the “mercy- killing” of his 12-year-old daughter Tracy, who was disabled. Tracy had not expressed a desire to be killed. Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench Justice Ted Noble granted an unprecedented constitutional exemption from the mandatory 10-year minimum sentence […]

TRENTON, NJ, Dec 16 (LSN) – New Jersey has become the 18th state to outlaw partial-birth abortion. The state Senate overrode “moderate” Republican Governor Christie Whitman’s veto Monday and banned partial-birth abortions, except when the life of the mother is in danger. The 27-13 vote, the minimum needed for an override, gave final approval to the ban on partial-birth abortions, thwarting Whitman’s attempt to broaden the exception to include virtually any partial-birth abortion.