WHY HEART TRANSPLANTS ARE INTRINSICALLY EVIL

First, as with all important issues, one must detach oneself from emotions and judge strictly by the unassailable principles of the Roman Catholic Faith. One must remember that the modern medical schools are devoid of Catholic principles and ethics. These schools graduate doctors who willingly perform abortions! These same schools graduate other doctors who become 'fertility experts' who are completely devoid of any moral principles and who take means that are intrinsically evil and condemned by the Roman Catholic Church - all for the supposed purpose of 'making healthy babies' - operating upon the evil Machiavellian principle that 'the end justifies the means' (sic). Therefore, one cannot trust nor may one accept the opinions of doctors and/or nurses (unless of course, these opinions conform to the moral teachings of the Roman Catholic Church).

Secondly, one must be clear on definitions and not allow the modern medical rhetoric to confuse or obfuscate the real issues and the operative principles. Remember: it is a standard diabolical tactic to re-define (i.e., mis-define) terms in order to perpetrate evil. For example, abortionists re-define an unborn baby as a 'non-person' - merely tissue and hence they 'justify' murdering the unborn.)

Let us then be clear on Catholic principles:
-Human life begins at the moment of conception when Almighty God infuses the immortal soul - the parents are the procreators but Almighty God is the Author of human life.
-Human life ends when the immortal soul is separated from the human body; this is the only true Catholic definition of (real) death.

Note these definitions:
ANIMA, -AE : "the soul, the breath of life, the rational soul, the vital principle" poetically: 'life-blood' [Cassell's Latin/English dictionary] hence in English:
ANIMATE : "Latin: animare, to make alive, to fill with breath, to give life to, to give motion to" [Webster's Unabridged Dictionary]

The immortal soul is (what we call in philosophy) 'the substantial form of the human body'; this is extremely significant. This means that every cell of the human body is literally animated by the immortal soul. This means that until the instant that the soul separates from the body - every vestige of life within that body necessarily reflects the on-going presence of the immortal soul. Hence, even when a patient is aided by mechanical devices (respirators, heart-lung by-pass machines, etc.) the immortal soul is still (necessarily) present and that patient is very much alive - even if a doctor declares him to be 'brain-dead'.

Now to the question of transplants:
Transplants, in and of themselves, are not forbidden PROVIDED that the means to procure the organ-to-be-donated are licit and moral (i.e., the end does not justify the means and hence even if a good end is desired and/or attained, the means to that end must also be good). So for example, when Senator Jake Garn donated one of his kidneys to his daughter, both the end desired (i.e., the health of the daughter) and the means to procure the organ (i.e., Sen. Garn giving one of his two kidneys) were both moral and licit.

This is not the case with a human heart: The transplant of a human heart is intrinsically evil for though the desired result may be good (e.g., the health of the recipient), the means to procure the donor organ are neither licit nor moral. The donor organ comes from a human being whom the doctors have (for whatever reason) declared to be 'dead' (often using the rhetoric of 'brain-death') and yet, by their own admission they are "artificially maintaining life" or "sustaining with mechanical assistance" and thus (they admit) the donor's heart is still beating and the donor's lungs are still inhaling/exhaling - all the while they assure you that the person (i.e., the donor) is really dead! Remember the Catholic principle: "…that every cell of the human body is literally animated by the immortal soul. This means that until the instant that the soul separates from the body - every vestige of life within that body necessarily reflects the on-going presence of the immortal soul. Hence, even when a patient is aided by mechanical devices (respirators, heart-lung by-pass machines, etc.) the immortal soul is still (necessarily) present and that patient is very much alive - even if a doctor declares him to be 'brain-dead'."

ONE WHO PERFORMS HEART TRANSPLANTS, ONE WHO ASSISTS IN PERFORMING HEART TRANSPLANTS, ONE WHO SOLICITS AND OR BENEFITS FROM A HEART TRANSPLANT IS CULPABLE OF WILLFUL MURDER. WHEN THE DOCTOR MAKES THE INCISION TO REMOVE THE DONOR'S HEART THAT DOCTOR IS GUILTY OF WILFUL MURDER AND DIFFERS NOT FROM AN ABORTIONIST.

In 'Medical Ethics' (published by the Loyola University Press - 1956 and which bears the 'Imprimatur' and the 'Nihil Obstat') by Edwin F. Healy, S.J. (a well known Jesuit moral theologian), one reads on page 382 "The only certainty of death is the general putrefaction of the body.…"..

"It is interesting to note that recent investigations have made it plain that it is no longer possible to determine even within a considerable margin the precise moment of death. Father Ferreres, S. J., in his work, gathers as the conclusion of his researches that the only absolutely certain sign of death is decomposition. The practical value of this statement is that absolution and extreme unction may be given conditionally for some time after the person would have hitherto been reputed to be dead." [The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. IV page 662]