Why Pope Benedict should be an organ donor

[Karol]

SCHOLAR, ACTIVIST Frances Kissling is a visiting scholar at the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania where she is writing a book on Ethics and Abortion. A catholic feminist, she was the president of Catholics for Choice for 25 years. 
           
Why Pope Benedict should be an organ donor

Once again a pope has let me down. The Vatican announced that Pope Benedict was no longer going to donate his organs for transplant on his death. The pope signed a German organ donor card in the 1970's and has been vocal in support of organ donation which he has called the "gift of life." However, his private secretary has clarified that the card became invalid "ipso facto" when he was elected pope. The president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, Archbishop Zimowski explained the decision noting that the pope's body belongs to the whole Church and needs to be preserved intact as it might be subject to "possible future veneration."

I was crushed. I had been praying that when the time came that I needed a kidney (I have kidney disease) I would get the pope's. Not that I wish for his demise; may he live a long and healthy life - and may I as well.

Everybody, it seems, no matter how aware they are of human suffering, has a reason to keep their body parts, even the ones they don't need. According to the Eurotransplant International Foundation, Germany has one of the lowest rates of registered organ donors, 17%. About twice as many Europeans in other countries are registered along with 37% of Americans. Even at the 37% rate of registered donors, organ donor waiting lists are astronomically high and growing. The US list has over 100,000 people on it, most waiting for kidneys. Four thousand people on the kidney waiting list die each year because an organ does not become available.

Is the pope setting a good example when he - or a Vatican official - decides that it is more important that a papal body be treated as an object of veneration rather than a source of saving several lives? After all, women are urged by the church to sacrifice their lives and their bodies in childbirth if life or health threatening complications occur during pregnancy. For women the obligation to give "life" is mandatory not discretionary - even if it means their death. In the pope's case, all that is being asked is that his heart, liver, kidneys, and pancreas be given to someone who is about to die if they don't get them.

There is something theologically suspect about the church's obsession with the papal person and body. For example, in Canon Law, there are only two offenses against bodies that are subject to automatic excommunication. One is the successful procurement of an abortion which takes the life of the fetus, an entity that the church has not definitively declared a person, but has held must be treated "as if it were a person." The second is the attempted (need not be successful) assassination of a pope. The rest of us, it seems, are less worthy of life.

As part of the push to promote a "culture of life" and in remembrance of Christ's sacrifice of his life on the cross for our sins it would be useful if the pope announced that the most sacred expression of respect for his body would be the donation of his organs on death to those in need. And, the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry should initiate a drive to register every citizen of the Vatican and every bishop of the church as an organ donor. In fact, it would be even better if church officials became living kidney donors and gave a spare kidney now when they are younger ( well, a few are) and healthier rather than wait till they are dying and the chances their organs will be useful are diminished. For every 10,000 living donations 3 people die. For every 10,000 births in the US 1.3 women will die; in the developing countries, the average rises to 4.4 women per 10,000 live births.

In fact, I have an even better idea. It would be great if those pro-life priests and perhaps every pro-life man who will never have to risk their life or health in childbirth or pregnancy were to donate their spare kidney to a woman on dialysis. Now that would demonstrate their solidarity and concern for women.

You do the math. Is a pope's body more sacred than that of a woman or of the person languishing on some kidney donor waiting list?

BY FRANCES KISSLING  |  FEBRUARY 14, 2011; 6:36 PM ET

http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/Frances_Kissling/2011/02/why_pope_benedict_should_be_an_organ_donor.html

[Fr Pat]

      This story sounds so odd to me that I would not be surprised if that statement was made by an underling without the Pope's authorization, and may be corrected by him in the near future. At least I hope so, since the Pope himself had been so open about being a registered organ donor. So, I'll wait and see what developes. In any case while I know that some tissues from an over-80-year-old deceased donor can still be used (e.g. bone), I doubt that kidneys or other whole organs that old would be judged medically suitable for transplantation to anyone.
     I quite agree that example speaks louder than words. The late Pope John Paul II wrote very clearly in several official documents that organ donation, both living and after death, was an admirable expression of charity. I have so far run into 20 other priests who have donated a kidney or a liver-lobe, but I wish that there were a lot more. Likewise I think that the ministers and rabbis who have donated have given great encouragement to potential donors by their example. And of course we have had the pleasure of having several doctors and nurses here at Livingdonorsonline who have themselves donated. We all should "walk the walk" as well as "talk the talk."
    Fr. Pat

[Michael]

Here's a link to the original news story, from the Catholic News Service: http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1100466.htm