Here is the judgement of Communion and Liberation, USA, an Ecclesial Movement of the Church,

After 14 days of starvation and dehydration, the State of Florida was finally successful in its quest to kill Terri Schiavo. The course of events leading up to her death has alarmed many Americans, including us.

Much could be said regarding Terri’s plight and what it reveals about our society; we will limit ourselves to the issues that seem most pressing to us.

Firstly, if we understand human reason to be the only measure of reality, then even the meaning and value of human life are subject to those partial measures reason uses to calculate (in this case the measure was “quality”).

Secondly, this understanding places every person’s life beneath the dominion of the state, which becomes reason’s greatest tool of power.

Thirdly, in setting itself up as arbiter of the value of human life, reason betrays itself, for all of reality—and particularly life!—points reason to a Mystery beyond its capability to grasp or circumscribe.

Fourthly, this betrayal incarnates itself in human experience as the loss of freedom. The State of Florida impeded its citizens from freely accepting the burden of Terri’s life, health and welfare. In other words, the State of Florida blocked every possibility of the free exercise of charity.

This last observation does not completely surprise us—for how can reason measure love?—but it makes us begin to worry about what living in a “free” country is coming to mean.

Communion and Liberation, USA