Word's been received that Pope Benedict's organ donor card is void. It's been so since his election to the papacy in 2005. Since the 1970's it is said that he's been an organ donor.He fully supports organ donation but now that he's the Pope, his thinking has not changed --he still believes in the virtue of donating one's organs to another-- but now as it was said, his body belongs to the whole Church. In fact, the Pope has criticized the selling of human organs versus the free gift of self in making a donation of an organ. The Pope said on November 7, 2008 at the international congress, "A Gift for Life: Considerations on Organ Donation":
The act of love, which is expressed with the gift of one's own vital organs, is a genuine testament of charity that knows how to look beyond death so that life always wins. The recipient should be aware of the value of this gesture that one receives, of a gift that goes beyond the therapeutic benefit. What they receive is a testament of love, and it should give rise to a response equally generous, and in this way grows the culture of gift and gratitude.
Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, head of the healthcare office at the Holy See, said the Pope's body will remain intact at the time of his death.
Read what Pope Benedict XVI thinks about beauty of organ donation: Pope Benedict on organ donation.pdf
If you understand German, you can listen to Pope Benedict's personal secretary Monsignor Georg Gänswein brief on the matter.
The AP article
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