Pope Benedict XVI joins fight over right to die of coma victim Eluana Englaro

Times Online
February 8, 2009
Richard Owen, Rome

Pope Benedict XVI intervened today in a right-to-die row which has sparked a constitutional crisis in Italy, asking the faithful to pray for "those who depend totally on the care of others" and stressing their "right to dignity".

On Friday, medical staff at a clinic in Udine began reducing water and nutrients through feeding tubes to Eluana Englaro, 38, who has been in a vegetative coma for 17 years. The case has sparked a passionate national debate and a power struggle between Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister, who sided with the Vatican by issuing an emergency decree against euthanasia, and President Napolitano, who has refused to sign the decree on the grounds that such a "sensitive" issue can only be discussed and decided by Parliament. the rest