I remember when we talked about this in my 8th grade theology class. Our priest came in to teach us, as he did from time to time. I really respected this priest, for he was very intelligent and down-to-earth, as well as being genuinely devout. Anyhow, we were talking about the Catholic Church's teachings on human supremecy. He brought up this scenario: "If a 90 year old man who was confined to his bed with a respirator and a feeding tube was hanging off of a cliff, and the every member of the panda bear species was also hanging off of a cliff, and if you only had time to save one group, (keeping in mind that the entire panda species would become completely extinct if you didn't save them), which would you save?"
"The pandas!" We all cried.
"Wrong!" Said our priest.
He then went on to explain that the Church teaches us that human life must be valued above everything else, no matter what, and I went on to think that that was the most ridiculous and impractical thing I had ever heard.
