Vatican newspaper denounces sale of human organs
May 16, 2011
The Vatican newspaper has denounced proposals to legalize the sale of human organs.
“The moral problem is not primarily that of the seller,” writes Giulia Galleoti in L’Osservatore Romano. “In human history, desperate persons have resorted to desperate measures in order to save themselves or someone they love. If medical science today allows every conceivable line to be crossed, the hidden rationale becomes this: crazy desperation induced by poverty. And societies that ‘legitimize’ this desperation are societies that are incapable of defending their citizens.”
“The most serious problem, however, resides with the buyer,” she adds. “Outside of any other consideration, the heart of the problem lies here: are we willing to accept that a person buys his health, or saves his life, by buying replacement pieces from someone else’s body? The suspicion that societies open to this market are in fact cannibalistic, is real and dramatic.”
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