Topic: Organ Donation

Address of The Holy Father John Paul II to the 18th International Congress of the Transplantation Society

Magisterial Documents

August 29, 2000

Description Pope John Paul II emphasises the ‘great ethical value’ of organ donation,[3] while making clear that to ‘commercialize human organs’ is ‘morally unacceptable’.[3] This Magisterial document is the first to address the determination of death by neurological criteria, also known as ‘brain death’. On this topic, the Pope first lays down the ethical principle