The lives of Pope John Paul II and Terri Schiavo bore few similarities. In 1990, at the age of 26, Schiavo suffered brain damage that radically altered the rest of her life, forcing her to be fed through a tube and depriving her of the most basic communication skills. In stark contrast, in 1990 Karol Wojtyla was nearing the midpoint of his almost-27 years as the leader of the Roman Catholic church. He had broken the mold from the start, becoming the first non-Italian pope and leading the Catholic church into the 21st century. Popular and visible, the pope built bridges between Catholicism and many nations.

And yet, despite their contrasting lives, the deaths of these two came just days apart, under remarkably similar circumstances. Both were fed through a tube. Both lost the ability to communicate. But death’s final toll rang differently for each.

The pope died a natural death, surrounded by his closest friends and confidants. Schiavo died of starvation and lack of water, surrounded by controversy between her husband and parents.

It’s impossible to know, but I suspect that had the pope’s mother or father decided it was time to remove his feeding tube, the public outcry would have prevented such an action. In Schiavo’s case, though, the public outcry wasn’t loud enough to prevent her starvation.

Why?

I submit that it hinges on how Americans (and maybe most of the world) measure the value of human life. When value hinges on a person’s utility to society, the battle is lost, and the Terri Schiavos of the world will never be saved. Once value is measured by utility, the language of rights (esp. the right to die) enters the picture. It was said that Schiavo had a right(!) to die, and far be it from us to trample her rights.

If it was the pope whose feeding tube was being threatened with removal, his usefulness to the world (all the great things he had done as pope) may have prevented such an action.

How are we to view these two characters? Was the pope genuinely more valuable because he held greater utility?

Not at all.

As Christians, we know that a person’s value stems not his utility, but from the fact that he was created in the image of God. That very act of creation infuses humanity with a value no act of man should remove.

As creations of God, we have inherent value that is not ours to own. The decision to die is not a right, nor is it ours to make.