ASIA/LEBANON-Maronite Church: to encourage organ donation

Beirut (Agenzia Fides) - The Maronite Church is in favor of organ donation and called on the Lebanese medical staff to encourage the spread of this practice, calling at the same time to monitor abuses that may compromise its ethical value. This is what the Maronite Bishop Maroun Amar said during a conference held on Monday, March 10, organized by the Higher Institute for Religious Sciences at St. Joseph's University and the National Committee for Organ Donation and Transplantation, to discuss the ethics and practice of organ donation, as well as religious restrictions. Bishop Amar attended the Conference as representative of Patriarch Bechara Boutros Rai. According to the Lebanese press, father Edgard al-Haiby, the head of the Institute, said the conference was the first of several forthcoming events that will deal with organ donation in light of the teachings of the Catholic Church, other Churches and Islam. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 11/03/2014)