Washington, DC- Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, responded today to the announcement that Judge George Greer will receive the "Special Justice Award" tomorrow in Florida.

"On the night before Terri Schiavo died, I said to the national media that Judge Greer was a murderer. I repeat that today. I use the word not in its legal meaning but in its moral meaning, that is, a deliberate action or series of actions that intentionally kill an innocent person. Terri was not dying until she stopped receiving food and water. Once deprived of that sustenance, she died. It does not require any legal or medical expertise to recognize that as murder. Nobody who has lost the basic capability to understand that should be honored.

"Whatever judgment, furthermore, is made on Judge Greer’s legal authority to do what he did, no Court has the moral authority to directly and deliberately take innocent life, and those ordered to carry out such decisions are morally obliged to resist them by conscientious objection. Pope John Paul II made that teaching clear in his encyclical letter "The Gospel of Life.""

Other religious leaders, including Cardinal Renato Martino, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace at the Vatican, have described this tragedy in similar terms, as have countless Americans.

For more information, see www.priestsforlife.org

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