ITALY/VATICAN: Funeral for paralysed man who chose to die was held while Pope Benedict reaffirmed life must end with 'its natural sunset'

Italians on Sunday (December 24) said farewell to a paralysed man who was denied a Catholic funeral because he had asked to die as Pope Benedict entered the fray by condemning euthanasia, saying life was sacred until its "natural sunset". About a thousand people turned out in a Rome square for a lay funeral for Piergiorgio Welby, who died last Wednesday (December 20) after a doctor gave him sedatives and detached a respirator that had kept the victim of advanced muscular dystrophy alive for years. The lay service for 60-year-old Welby, an eloquent advocate of euthanasia, was held outside the parish where his family, particularly his devoutly religious elderly mother, worshipped. The local parish priest favoured a religious funeral but he was overruled by Rome's Vicariate, or bishop's office, which said Welby had repeatedly affirmed his desire to end his own life, which is against Catholic doctrine. "They lost one occasion to be generous and merciful," Welby's sister, Carla, told reporters. Many in Italy, including some Catholics, condemned the decision as insensitive. For months, Welby, who was confined to a bed, attached to tubes and who communicated mostly via computer that interpreted his eye movements, had been asking to die. Welby had appeared on television and wrote to the president asking for "peace for my tortured and shattered body". "I am catholic, but I cannot accept that," said one Italian woman from the neighbourhood. "People gathered here to pay homage to him but also to make clear that we are all against this decision by the Church", she added. But speaking at the Vatican just as the lay funeral was ending on the other side of Rome, Pope Benedict reaffirmed the Church's 'no' to euthanasia. "The birth of Christ helps us to understand how much value human life has, the life of every human being, from its first instant to its natural sunset," he told pilgrims and tourists in St Peter's Square for his weekly blessing. The funeral ended with the playing of Welby's favourite composition, Vivaldi's "Four Seasons". Doctor Mario Riccio, who turned off the respirator after giving Welby sedatives, told Reuters in an interview on Friday (December 22) he did so to end a life Welby described as "torture". He denied he had performed euthanasia, which is illegal in Italy and could land him with between 10 and 15 years in jail. One politician has asked for Riccio's arrest for murder. Only Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium and the U.S. state of Oregon permit assisted suicide for the terminally ill.

ITN Source | December 24, 2006

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