When a patient arrives in extremis at a Catholic hospital in the rare situation reflected in the case of the Arizona woman whose life was endangered by her pregnancy, a conflict arises between the patient’s life and Catholic health care’s right to religious liberty in following its own precepts.

  The pope’s recent address on patients in a persistent vegetative state has left a lot of people scratching their heads. How might we read it if it were a thesis proposal submitted to an committee for review at a Catholic university? Rev. John Tuohey imagines the scenario.