Catholic Fire

(Vatican Radio) A Hungarian university hospital says a premature but healthy baby was delivered after doctors kept the child's brain-dead mother on life support for three months, a move it says will shake the foundations of human medicine. After a 31-year-old mother suffered a stroke when she was just 15 weeks pregnant, the hospital of the University of Debrecen in eastern Hungary sprang into action. In a statement to Vatican Radio, the university said its Medical and Health Science Center managed to save her foetus. The baby was delivered via cesarean section this summer at 27 weeks, weighing 1.4 kilograms, about three pounds or 1.8 ounces. It happened after the child's brain-dead mother was put on life support, following requests of a "grieving family", doctors said. The mother's organs — her heart, liver, kidneys and pancreas — were donated to four patients awaiting a life-saving transplant, two days after the delivery. The Reformed Church backed unive...

A powerful story , documented by the Kansas City Star, about a family whose whole goal was to love and welcome the little one who would die soon after birth. Via Julie D . and The Anchoress .

"One thing is certain: When the time has come, nothing which is man-made will subsist. One day, all human accomplishments will be reduced to a pile of ashes. But every single child to whom a woman has given birth will live forever, for he has been given an immortal soul made to God's image and likeness." ~ Alice von Hildebrand, The Privilege of Being a Woman page 33. "...is it surprising that today we have become so morally blind (for wickedness blinds) that we save the baby whales at great cost, and murder millions of unborn children?" ~ Alice von Hildebrand, The Privilege of Being a Woman, page 24.

A new poll conducted by a leading Christian web site finds that an overwhelming majority of Christians believe that life begins at conception. ChristiaNet.com recently surveyed 500 members of its web site and asked: "Does life start at conception, first heart beat, second trimester, or birth?" Of the 500 participants, 440 (88 percent) believe that life begins at conception; nearly 7 percent believe that life begins at birth. Only two respondents selected the option that life begins at the second trimester and 24 respondents believe that life begins at the first heart beat, reported LifeNews.com. “The Bible is clear about life," said ChristiaNet president Bill Cooper. "But many people, even some Christians, are unclear on this fact because our society accepts abortion procedures. The truth has become skewed in order to ease the social conscience." Via CNA .