8mm
Posted on 09/21/2007 5:00:21 PM PDT by wagglebee
Final Prayer Was Lesson for Attending Physician
VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 20, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The final voiced prayer of Pope John Paul II was an act of profound asceticism, said his personal physician.
Dr. Renato Buzzonetti said the Pope's last words were "the prayer of a saint that loved life until the good Lord called him to himself," reported an article Sunday in Italy's La Republica newspaper.
The doctor continued: "Pope John Paul II was cared for until the last moment of his life, when at 9:37 p.m. on April 2, 2005, he breathed his last.
"It is true that he had previously told his doctors, 'Let me go to the Lord.' But that was an ascetic phrase, an elevated form of a final prayer of a man who was suffering a great deal and felt the strong desire to draw close to the Heavenly Father.
"It was certainly not a renunciation or a form of anticipated surrender of life. Nor was it an invitation to physicians caring for him to pull the plug or to discontinue care, a sort of indirect choice for euthanasia, as some are insinuating. Whoever believes this, is wrong."
The doctor said John Paul II spoke the prayer "in a weak voice to Polish Sister Tobiana, while she was ministering near the bed. When the sister came out of the room she told us that the Pope told her that he 'wanted to be let go, to go to the Lord.'
"I repeat, it was a mystical invitation, a high form of prayer recited by a man who felt that he was near to completing his earthly adventure. But he was never left alone, without care or protection, as some erroneously are trying to insinuate.
"It was for those of us who were near him yet another great life lesson. A prayer prayed right to the end, in a very weak voice, inaudible, whispered, yet profound. The prayer of a saint that loved life until the good Lord called him to himself."
Attachment to faith
The physician was addressing certain claims that arose in media reports, especially in the wake of the document from the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith released last Friday on the obligation of feeding tubes for people in a persistent "vegetative state."
"That phrase, 'Let me go to the house of the Father,' was an act of a high prayer, of profound asceticism, an original example and almost unique in its attachment to faith in God the Father and, at the same time, to life, which John Paul II profoundly loved right up to the last moment," Buzzonetti said.
"His was a long passion," he added. "On March 31, when he looked out of his window for the first time he couldn’t even speak. But he did not give up. From that day on he was administered enteric nutrition through a nasal gastric tube, because he was no longer in a condition to feed himself by mouth.
"The drip was applied and secured until the end, without interruption. Then, on March 31, he suffered serious septic shock with cardio circulatory collapse because of a urinary tract infection; he was given all of the appropriate therapeutic measures and cardio respiratory assistance."
The physician affirmed that John Paul II, though he was not taken to a hospital for his final hours, received excellent medical attention.
"His secretary, Bishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, asked him explicitly if he wanted to go," Buzzonetti explained. "But the Holy Father wanted to remain in the Vatican where he was also guaranteed uninterrupted and quality specialized medical assistance, 24 hours a day, with highly specialized personnel."
The culture of death will do ANYTHING, even disgrace the memory of the 20th century's greatest moral leader, to advance their agenda.
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>>When the sister came out of the room she told us that the Pope told her that he ‘wanted to be let go, to go to the Lord.’ <<
So what? So did my dad, dying of colon cancer. He said don’t take him back to the hospital and pump him up to live another month. That doesn’t mean we didn’t feed him, give him water or kill him with medication.
In fact, one morning, I woke up to find my mom holding a bowl of milk. Apparently, I had gotten up in the middle of the night and warmed milk for him (putting in cocoa powder instead of the nutrition drink we were giving him) and put it in a bowl (!) to give him.
Letting him go is different from helping him go.
Amen!
Letting him go is different from helping him go.
There’s all the difference in the world between those views.
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