Pope, Holy See express grief
over death of Vincent Lambert
 |
| People expressing support for Vincent Lambert |
The French quadriplegic who has been in a vegetative state
for a decade, died in a hospital in Reims on July 11, after doctors stopped the
food and water systems that kept him alive.
By Robin Gomes
Pope Francis and the Holy See have expressed grief over the
death of Vincent Lambert, the French quadriplegic who has been in a vegetative
state for a decade.
The 42-year old passed away Thursday morning at the
Sebastopol Hospital in Reims, after medics on July 2 switched off food and
water systems that kept him alive since a motorcycle accident in 2008.
“May God the Father welcome Vincent Lambert in His arms,”
Pope Francis tweeted. “Let us not build a civilization that discards
persons whose lives we no longer consider to be worthy of living: every life is
valuable, always,” the Holy Father added.
"We received with grief the news of the death of
Vincent Lambert,” said the ‘ad interim’ Director of the Holy See Press office,
Alessandro Gisotti, in a brief statement. “We pray that the Lord receive
him into His house and express our closeness to his loved ones and all who,
until the last moment, have committed themselves to assist him with love and
dedication,” Gisotti wrote.
“Let us remember and reaffirm,” he said, “what the Holy
Father said, intervening on this painful event: God is the only master of life
from the beginning to its natural end and it is our duty to guard it always and
not to give in to the culture of waste.”
Lambert's wife and some of his siblings wanted care to be
withdrawn, but his Catholic parents, backed by other relatives, launched a
series of legal bids to force doctors to keep him alive.
Doctors ultimately acted in accordance with a final ruling
by the Cour de Cassation, France's supreme court.
Pope Francis has made various appeals for human life until
its natural end, including on Lambert’s case.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Holy Father tweeted: “We pray for
the sick who are abandoned and left to die. A society is human if it protects
life, every life, from its beginning to its natural end, without choosing who
is worthy to live or who is not. Doctors should serve life, not take it away."
The President of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for
Life, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, posted a tweet following Lambert’s
death. He said that he and the Academy were praying for the family of
Lambert, the doctors and all those involved in the case. “The death of
Vincent Lambert and its history are a defeat for our humanity,” he added.
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