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VATICAN CITY - The use of a feeding tube for Pope John Paul II illustrates a key point of Roman Catholic doctrine he himself has proclaimed toward the aging and chronically ill: The administration of food and water to a patient is morally necessary.
The Vatican has repeated that principle in comments concerning Terri Schiavo. And while John Paul is fully alert, some see similarities in the cases.
Under John Paul, Vatican teaching on the final stages of life includes a rejection of euthanasia, insistence on treatments that help people bear ailments with dignity and encouragement of research to enhance and prolong life.
In the Schiavo case, the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, likened the removal of Schiavo's feeding tube to capital punishment.
The Rev. Thomas Williams, a Rome-based theologian, said one can draw parallels with John Paul's case, based on the church teaching that such feeding is required. "In that sense, there is a great similarity," he said.
But he pointed out that the pope is fully conscious and running the church. While the pope is still able to eat on his own and is fully conscious, the insertion of any feeding tube raises the question of what to do if he were to lose consciousness and be kept alive by the tube alone.
It is not clear who would make medical decisions for an unconscious pope. The pope has no close relatives; the Vatican has declined to comment on whether John Paul has left written instructions. Presumably the pope's faithful secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, who has served John Paul since his days as archbishop of Krakow, Poland, would have a say.