Reflections – Faith and science in the life of the believer

Faith and science: the limit of life

To the question “What is your biggest fear?”, most people answer: being buried alive. This fear comes back to us, in a more or less conscious form, every time a news item invites us to take a stand on what life is to distinguish it from what no longer is: the gray area where serious acquired brain injuries are manifested, that is, brain damages such as seriously compromise movements and cognitive functions like the vegetative state. And that is how, the specialized terms that science often uses, interpreted in the light of an avowedly atheist ideology, end up creating more confusion than clarity. What to do in these cases? It is necessary to turn to faith (expressed by the Magisterium and the Tradition of the Church) and science. Faith and science seek the truth; when science does so, it frees from ideological prejudices, radiates its wisdom in the world and improves the lives of men.

In 2004 St. John Paul II had called an International Congress to deepen the concept of the vegetative state, in whose joint declaration it is argued that the subjects in this state can in no way be considered terminally ill (and in fact in no stage is their death legal), because they can remain stable for years and, moreover, they are not subjected to treatments comparable to persistent therapy (they are only fed artificially). The document argues that future research could yield important results to improve the condition of those in this state. In fact, this was the case.

The case of Scott, a 26-year-old Canadian boy, is emblematic; after a car accident, he has been considered in a vegetative state for 12 years, before through new tests it was discovered that he was aware of his condition, of the place where he was and of who was taking care of him. When he was asked if he felt pain, to the doctor’s deep emotion, Scott replied no. In fact, most patients who were in his condition claim that they are happy enough and that they do not want to end their lives. Progress of the studies has revealed that the term vegetative connotes this state too negatively and therefore its change to an a-responsive wakefulness syndrome was proposed.

It is clear that as a Catholic I never wish that people decided to end a life, but the thing that makes me shudder most is to think that absolutely arbitrary criteria can be established to ascertain which type of life has a greater dignity and can therefore be lived. And every time I think of whoever has resorted to justice, to put an end to the life of a loved one in a vegetative state, I think of how much harm a man that moves away from the light of truth is able to do.

For this reason I pray to the Mother of the Redemption, so that she may obtain for us the grace of being Light of the world and Salt of the earth in a society that seems to have increasingly forgotten the Truth of the Word of her Son Jesus.

Maria Primo