The court upheld a July ruling by a lower court in Milan that doctors could stop artificially feeding Ms Eluana Englaro, 37, as it had been proven that the road accident victim's coma was irreversible.

The Roman Catholic Church has made Ms Englaro a symbol in its campaign against mercy killings and demanded that she be kept alive.

Mr Rino Fisichella, rector of Rome's pontifical Lateran University, told Radio Vatican that he opposed the decision.

This decision is disastrous 'on ethical and moral grounds as its condemns a young girl to death,' he said, calling for a law to be passed banning 'all active or passive euthanasia in Italy'.

Ms Englaro has lain in a hospital in northern Lecco since January 1992, and her father has been seeking an end to her life support since 1999.

The Milan court said that Ms Englaro, when fully conscious, had stated her preference to die rather than being kept alive artificially.

Avvenire, the daily newspaper of the Italian Catholic Church, accused the court of 'necrophilia' after the ruling.

The court decision also drew a swift rebuke from the Vatican, which said it gave 'de facto' justification for euthanasia.

The Italian Catholic Church refused to allow a religious funeral for poet and writer Piergiorgio Welby in 2006.

Welby, who suffered from muscular dystrophy, died in December 2006 after being taken off an artificial respirator. -- AFP