Quadriplegic Priest Carves Out an Apostolate on Internet

A Spanish Web page that opposes euthanasia is manned by someone who, according to the promoters of a "gentle death," should have died years ago.

Father Luis de Moya lost the use of his limbs in an accident more than a decade ago, but he manages to run the Web site through technology that allows him to dictate to a computer.

He began to study medicine in Madrid in 1971. The following year, he applied for admission to the Opus Dei. After his studies, he went to Rome to study theology and then returned to Spain for his priestly ordination.

In addition to being a physician, Father de Moya has a doctorate in canon law. He has been in charge of several chaplaincies at the University of Navarre. He still keep at this work today, combining it with his Web pages dedicated to the struggle for life and the dignity of the person.

"I had a traffic accident in April 1991 and, as a consequence, remained quadriplegic," he explains in the book "Along the Way." The book is published in Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian.

The Internet phenomenon was a discovery. "I soon realized that the concept 'border' hardly exists on the network," he told ZENIT. "I thought it would be terrible, therefore, if I did not reach as many computers as possible with the best content I could contribute."

Father de Moya's battle in defense of life is now spreading throughout Europe. He is currently engaged in a lengthy debate, after posting on his Web page a letter from the mother of Carolina Bustos Flores.

Bustos, who lives in Rotterdam, is accusing the doctors of the Dutch Dijkzigt Ziekenhuis Hospital of letting her 25-year-old daughter die. The letter is entitled "Chronicle of a Forced Euthanasia."

Father de Moya also has, in Spanish, a Web page on spirituality, philosophy and theology (www.fluvium.org) and a personal page (www.luisdemoya.org).