The Vatican on Tuesday
condemned the assisted suicide of American brain cancer sufferer
Brittany Maynard at the weekend while also recognising the
"sanctuary" of individual conscience.
"Brittany Maynard's gesture is in itself to be condemned,
but what happened in her conscience is not for us to know,"
Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, president of the Pontifical Academy
for Life, told ANSA.
"We always choose by seeking what is good, the problem is
when we get it wrong," he continued
"Conscience is like a sanctuary that cannot be entered. But
let's reflect on the fact that if one day the project according
to which all patients take their own life were to be fully
realised they would be totally abandoned," Carrasco de Paula
said.
"Society does not want to shoulder the cost of disease and
this risks becoming the solution," he continued.
"This woman (took her own life) thinking she would die with
dignity, but this is the error, suicide is not a good thing, it
is a bad thing because it is saying no to life and to everything
it means with respect to our mission in the world and towards
those around us," he said, describing assisted suicide as "an
absurdity".
Maynard, 29, announced weeks ago that she was planning to
end her life by taking prescribed lethal drugs probably on
November 1 after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer
early this year.
She and her husband moved from their home in northern
California to Portland to be able to take advantage of Oregon
state's death with dignity legislation in order to do this.
"She died as she intended - peacefully in her bedroom, in
the arms of her loved ones," said Sean Crowley, a spokesman for
the advocacy group Compassion & Choices with which Maynard
worked.
The video Maynard posted on Youtube in which she announced
her decision has been viewed 9.8 million times, making her a key
advocate in the right-to-die movement in the US and beyond.
In an obituary released by Compassion and Choices Maynard
thanked all her supporters, whom she said she had "sought out
like water" during her life and illness.
"It is people who pause to appreciate life and give thanks
who are happiest. If we change our thoughts, we change our
world! Love and peace to you all," she said.
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