CCBI News: Organ Donation

September 29, 2023

Dear Friends of CCBI,

Organ Donation

Catholic teaching views organ donation as a noble action, and Pope John Paul remarked that it can contribute to the ‘culture of life,’ saying in Evangelium vitae, Section 86, that “one way of nurturing the culture of life is the donation of organs, performed in an ethically acceptable manner, with a view to offering health and even of life itself to the sick who sometimes have no other hope.” In an address to an international congress in 2007, Pope Benedict made the beautifully full statement that, “The act of love, which is expressed with the gift of one’s own vital organs, is a genuine testament of charity that knows how to look beyond death so that life always wins. The recipient should be aware of the value of this gesture that one receives, of a gift that goes beyond the therapeutic benefit. What they receive is a testament of love, and it should give rise to a response equally generous, and in this way grows the culture of gift and gratitude.”

Pope Francis has also commented on organ donation, remarking that, “Donation means looking and going beyond oneself, beyond individual needs and generously opening oneself to a broader good. In this perspective, organ donation is proposed not only as an act of social responsibility, but as the expression of universal fraternity that binds all men and women.”

Ethical Questions

While the Church clearly endorses organ and tissue donation, some ethical questions about these practices have been raised that must be considered, in light of Pope John Paul II’s requirement that donation must “…be performed in an ethically acceptable manner.” Catholic teaching is clear that donating organs can be a noble activity, assuming the consent of both living and dead donors, the latter sometimes through the consent of their decision-makers, Power of Attorney, and so on. Living donors must not violate any obligation to preserve their own bodily dignity and wellbeing, nor should they consider donating an organ if they have existing obligations that would be impossible to fulfill if they did so. The gift of their organs on the part of both living and dead donors must be voluntary, done out of generosity and with no hint of coercion, nor should there be any monetary reward in recognition of their incredible gesture of saving or vastly improving someone else’s life.

The Person Must Be Certifiably Dead

Where the organ to be donated is from a donor who has died, the person must be certifiably dead, using the highest medical standards that establish that death has occurred. In the year 2000, in his Address to the 18^th International Congress of the Transplantation Society, Pope John Paulstated: “Scientific approaches to ascertaining death have shifted the emphasis from the traditional cardio-respiratory signs to the so-called “neurological” criterion. Specifically, this consists in establishing, according to clearly determined parameters commonly held by the international scientific community, the complete and irreversible cessation of all brain activity (in the cerebrum, cerebellum and brain stem). This is then considered the sign that the individual organism has lost its integrative capacity.”

He added the important point that, “The Church does not make technical decisions. She limits herself to the Gospel duty of comparing the data offered by medical science with the Christian understanding of the unity of the person, bringing out the similarities and the possible conflicts capable of endangering respect for human dignity.” In organ donation, the Church relies on medical expertise that indicates death has occurred, and the criterion Pope John Paul II called for is “…the complete and irreversible cessation of all brain activity.” He taught that if this criterion is rigorously applied, “… it does not seem to conflict with the essential elements of a sound anthropology.” The terminology used here, i.e., ‘…does not seem to…’ is prudently crafted, leaving the criterion open to possible change if sound medical evidence were ever to show otherwise.

At the same time, his statement made it clear to professional health care workers that, in applying this medical standard, they could also feel assured that their ethical judgment attained ‘moral certainty,’ which is “…considered the necessary and sufficient basis for an ethically correct course of action.”

Medical and ethical questions about both ‘brain death’ and ‘non-heart beating death’ continue to be raised, and next week we will review the major questions arising from both practices within the context of Catholic teaching, as well as review some new Canadian guidelines.

September 29, The Feast of St Michael the Archangel

On this Feast of St Michael, CCBI extends its congratulations to Archbishop Francis Leo, among many other things Chair of our Board, on receiving the pallium today, the sign of a Metropolitan Archbishop’s share in the Pope’s authority and the bond between them. The pallia contain wool shorn from two lambs selected every year on the Feast of St Agnes and then blessed by the Pope. The conferring of the pallium symbolizes the shepherd’s responsibilities towards his people, his ‘flock.’

Evangelium Vitae (25 March 1995) | John Paul II (vatican.va)
To participants in the International Congress sponsored by the Pontifical Academy for Life (November 7, 2008) | BENEDICT XVI (vatican.va)
To the 18th International Congress of the Transplantation Society (August 29, 2000) | John Paul II (vatican.va)
History of the pallium given to Metropolitan Archbishops – Vatican News

Pope Francis’ Intentions for September

Let us pray for those people on the margins of society in subhuman living conditions, that they may not be neglected by institutions and never be cast out.

Moira and Bambi