CLEARWATER — The head of Priests for Life, Fr. Frank Pavone, has visited Terri Schindler-Schiavo in her Florida hospital room. Terri's estranged husband, Michael Schiavo, has complete control over who visits Terri and has severely restricted access by clergy to his disabled wife.
Fr. Pavone was in Florida to speak at the “Celebrate Life” banquet, hosted by Right to Life of Hillsborough County September 18. He visited Terri on the way to his engagement in the company of her priest, Msgr. Thaddeus Malanowski, and her family.
“It was beautiful,” Fr. Pavone told his audience at the banquet. “'Many people are praying for you from around the country,' I told her.” Lawyers for Michael Schiavo have contended that Terri's eye movements and other responses to voices and other stimuli are not signs of consciousness and that she is in a “permanent vegetative state.” However, Fr. Pavone said that he thought Terri showed awareness of his visit. “She was following everything that was going on,” he said. “She talks with her eyes. She's very much aware and alert.”
The law passed by Governor Jeb Bush to protect Terri from a starvation death was declared unconstitutional in May by a Florida court on the grounds that it contravened the right to privacy. The governor's office is appealing that decision. Fr. Pavone criticized the judicial system along with the medical establishment for overstepping their bounds. “All these fields have authority,” he said, “What they cannot do is put a value judgment on the lives they're caring for. The job of our whole culture is to affirm life.”
See also:
Constitutionality of Terri's Law to Be Decided by Florida Supreme Court
(This update courtesy of LifeSiteNews.com.)
