AP reports that the Vatican has expressly criticized Judge Whittemore's decision not to issue a stay in the Terri Schiavo case:

In a front-page editorial, the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano criticized U.S. District Judge James Whittemore's refusal to order the reinsertion of Schiavo's feeding tube and disparaged a "society incapable of appreciating and defending the gift of life."

This "intrusion" into American politics brings to mind worries expressed by opponents when John Kennedy, a Catholic, ran for President.

AP also noted that "The Catholic Church teaches that euthanasia can never be allowed because only God has the power to decide over the life and death of a human being."

According to The Guardian, the feeding tube is not an "extraordinary" form of life support and that "[s]ilence in this case would be able to be interpreted as approval..." It is not clear why this case, and not another.