For example, how far could doctors go to relieve a dying patient’s pain?

Months before his death in 1958, the pope wrote: “Is the suppression of pain and consciousness by means of narcotics (when it is demanded by a medical indication) permitted, by religion and morality, to the patient and the doctor (even at the approach of death and when one foresees that the administration of narcotics will shorten life)?” His answer was “yes,” if that was what it took to truly relieve suffering.

Pius XII also knew that doctors were pondering ways to apply ancient truths to issues raised by new technologies, said Ian Dowbiggin, author of “Life, Death, God and Medicine: A Concise History of Euthanasia.” The historian from the University of Prince Edward Island spoke to media professionals gathered at this week’s G8 “World Religions Summit” at the University of Winnipeg.

Many of these puzzles remain, which is why ethicists still study another 1957 address by Pius XII to the International Congress of Anesthesiologists, in which he asked when it was necessary to make extraordinary efforts to resuscitate patients.

The pope concluded that if it “appears that the attempt at resuscitation constitutes … such a burden for the family that one cannot in all conscience impose it upon them, they can lawfully insist that the doctor should discontinue these attempts, and the doctor can lawfully comply. There is not involved here a case of direct disposal of the life of the patient, nor of euthanasia in any way: this would never be licit. Even when it causes the arrest of circulation, the interruption of attempts at resuscitation is never more than an indirect cause of the cessation of life.”

Dowbiggin stressed that Pius XII was already engaging complex issues that continue to impact debates — in Canada, the United States and elsewhere — about legalizing physician-assisted suicide. While this decade has seen a “perfect storm” of conflicts about a “right to die,” it is essential that citizens, clergy and public officials study the history of euthanasia before making policy decisions that will touch millions of lives in the future, he said.

“There are deep moral and religious issues at stake in debates about physician-assisted suicide, which is why religious believers have always been involved,” said Dowbiggin. “But what we are hearing today are prominent voices that say that religious people must keep their ideas to themselves, because religion is a private thing — period — and must not affect public life. If that idea is accepted, that’s a major step toward the acceptance of physician-assisted suicide.”

The word “euthanasia” comes from two Greek words that simply mean “good death,” noted the historian. For centuries, Catholics and others have argued that a “good death” is one that is as pain-free and dignified as possible. Thus, religious groups have been at the forefront of efforts to offer in-home hospice care.

However, several trends have aided efforts to legalize physician-assisted suicide, especially scientific advances that have increased the “graying of America,” said Dowbiggin. Thus, people are living longer lives, which also means they are more likely to face lengthy battles with cancer and neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Rising health-care costs have also affected “quality of life” debates. After all, as President Barack Obama told the New York Times, the “chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill out here.” The stakes are rising.

Meanwhile, the Hemlock Society has evolved into End of Life Choices, an organization that merged with Compassion in Dying to form Compassion & Choices. Physician-assisted suicide became the “right to die” which has now evolved into calls for a legal “self deliverance” option.

If religious leaders want to keep taking part in these policy discussions, said Dowbiggin, “they must have something positive to say. It is not enough to just keep saying ‘no.’ … They need a vision of what the ‘good death’ looks like. They need to say that this is the goal of all end-of-life care — people making informed moral decisions about hospice and other forms of care that are right for themselves and for their families.”

“You mean the day they stop needing the church,” she shouts, weaving together the novel’s main themes. “But the church is not the only enlightened soul on the planet! We all seek God in different ways. …

“God is not some omnipotent authority looking down from above, threatening to throw us into a pit of fire if we disobey. God is the energy that flows through the synapses of our nervous system and the chambers of our hearts! God is in all things!”

This long speech is not in the movie based on Brown’s first novel about the dashing Harvard professor Robert Langdon, who uses his encyclopedic knowledge of art, religion, history, literature, architecture and archeology to crack through layers of ancient conspiracies that bedevil modern humanity.

This is, however, a speech that — as a sermon by the author — offers insights into the worldview behind “Angels & Demons” and the novel that followed it.

That, of course, was “The Da Vinci Code,” which ignited a global firestorm because of its depiction of Jesus as a brilliant, charismatic and ultimately misunderstood mortal man who married the brilliant, charismatic and misunderstood Mary Magdalene and had a child with her before his untimely death. This power couple’s goal was to create an inclusive, dogma-free, sexually enlightened faith. But, alas, the power-hungry patriarchs who created Christianity — especially the Roman Catholic Church — conspired to wreck and bury their work.

Director Ron Howard, who also directed “The Da Vinci Code” movie, admits that large parts of “Angels & Demons” were scrapped and rewritten while turning the prequel into a sequel. Brown gave his blessing since the book’s major themes remained intact.

As with “The Da Vinci Code,” Howard is convinced that he has not created an anti-Catholic film. His goal, he said, was to raise questions about the nature of faith.

“I believe in God, yes, I do. I’m not a member of a church at the moment,” he told reporters, before “Angels & Demons” reached theaters. “There is no personal struggle, for me, between my beliefs and religion. Basically, in a nutshell, I believe that our intelligence, and our curiosity, and our drive to know more are a part of the plan. … But I haven’t worked to directly sort of inject my personal spirituality and belief system into the story.”

The goal, while spinning another conspiracy-theory thriller, was to focus on “the threat that some in the Vatican may feel about what science represents, what it proposes to say about the origins of the universe and the origins of man,” he said.

The plot begins with the sudden death of a “progressive and beloved pope.” Then, all hell breaks loose as someone claiming to represent a secret society of freethinkers called the “Illuminati” kidnaps what the book describes as the four “liberal,” reform-minded cardinals who were the top candidates to become pope and begins murdering them in public rituals.

As the coup de grace, this mysterious killer has arranged to steal a container of antimatter produced at the CERN Large Hadron Collider on the Swiss-French border. Langdon and Vetra have to rush around — call it “24” meets a papal conclave — and find this missing “God particle” stuff before it explodes and vaporizes Vatican City.

By the time it’s all over, Langdon and company have solved a papal-murder mystery, saved the enlightened cardinal who ultimately becomes pope and, literally, saved the throne of St. Peter from being captured a madman who is, of course, the story’s most articulate conservative Catholic.

This villain “feels that the church is going down the wrong path” as it pursues peace with science and modernity, noted actor Ewan McGregor. “He thinks that the church is becoming watered down and is becoming weaker and weaker. … He’s trying to put it back on course.”

The key is that “Angels & Demons” offers a Vatican that contains good Catholics and bad Catholics. By the end of the film, said Howard, Langdon has gained a “more complex view of the church.”

In the end, there are good Catholics and bad Catholics and Brown and Howard get to determine who is who.