Vatican’s changing line on end-of-life illustrates that hard cases make bad law

Vatican’s changing line on end-of-life illustrates that hard cases make bad law 
Crux, Rome, Italy; by John L. Allen Jr.; 8/11/24 
Hard cases, as the famous legal maxim holds, make bad law. The Vatican served up a reminder of the point this week with a new “little end-of-life lexicon,” which not-so-subtly amends an earlier Vatican ruling on the issue of withdrawing artificial nutrition and hydration from chronically ill patients 17 years ago ... which was framed in the wake of the anguished Terry Schiavo case in the United States ... Today, with 17 additional years of both clinical and pastoral experience, it’s perhaps easier to accept that things aren’t always so black-and-white, and that there’s room for differing judgments in concrete cases. ...