Euthanasia an issue in Rome.

A FISSURE IN CATHOLIC-leadership opinion regarding end-of-life issues was brought to the forefront by the Diocese of Rome's refusal to grant a request for a religious funeral for Piergiorgio Welby. Welby's wife's request was denied because Welby had asked to be removed from the ventilator that had kept him alive for nine years, a request that the Vatican called "incompatible with Catholic doctrine." The pope made several statements backing the decision, but public sentiment and even some high-ranking church officials stood in opposition.

Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, who has written articles testing the Vatican's position on euthanasia, came down definitively against the papal line and the recent decision. In an interview reported on the front page of IL Sole 24 Ore, Martini distinguished between causing death and interrupting "the use of disproportionate medical procedures without any reasonable hope for a positive outcome," arguing that the latter is justifiable. He also maintained that "the will of the sick person may not be overlooked." While Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar of the Diocese of Rome, and Elio Sgreccia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, tried to counter Cardinal Martini, Italians were on Martini's side, with 68 percent supporting Welby's right to a church funeral.