The Lion Roars

Part 1 of this essay begins with a snapshot of the life and preaching of Cardinal Clemens August von Galen, a man of courage who actively resisted the programmatic termination of the elderly, infirm, and disabled—the so-called “unproductive”—by the Nazis in Germany during World War 2.

Time has moved on, yet in Part 2 we will be disturbed to see, once again, the growing trend of eliminating “unworthy” lives through euthanasia and assisted suicide in our modern, throwaway culture. An overview of Church teaching in these areas will be given, including the new Vatican charter on healthcare and Samaritanus Bonus (Good Samaritan), a 2020 document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) “on the care of persons in the critical and terminal phases of life.”