Ever since the famous Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger memo was issued in 2003, debates have raged among well-meaning Catholics regarding precisely what the cardinal (now Pope Benedict XVI) meant by “proportionate reasons”.

The Death with Dignity measure would allow terminally ill adult patients considered mentally competent to request and administer lethal medication prescribed by a physician.

When scientists go to work on a project, one has to assume there is going to be either a good result or a failed attempt.

Two recent news reports make it perfectly clear that scientific research into alleged treatments and cures for diseases is either guess work or sadly lacking in conclusive evidence. Either way, let the buyer beware.

It has often been said that when a truth is simple enough for even a four-year-old child to understand, most adults will probably not comprehend it. The older we get, the more inclined we are to discuss even the most important matters in a nuanced way, sometimes to the point of obfuscating the actual facts. Such is the case with abortion.

What happens in a culture of death when the focus of attention becomes the value of an individual human being? As we have seen in much of the recent news reports, we need not move beyond our own borders to discover the answer. Let’s see why this is so.