Pope Francis on Friday said
sentences recognizing a disabled or elderly person's "right to
die" or not to seek treatment have no legal grounds.
The pontiff said sentences "that on the theme of the right to
life are sometimes issued by tribunals in Italy and in many
democratic systems" state that "the main interest of a disabled
or elderly person is to die or not get treatment", inventing a
"right to die" that has no legal grounds, "thus weakening
efforts to ease pain and abandoning to their own devices people
who are about to conclude their existence".
The pope made the statements during a hearing with members of
the research center Centro Studi "Rosario Livatino", a
magistrate slain by the mafia in 1990, "for whom the diocesan
beatification process has concluded positively", the pope said.
At the hearing, which took place during the national congress
on the theme "Magistrature in crisis. Paths to find justice
again", the pontiff said Livatino "continues to be an example",
especially for judges, who have "a difficult and complex job".
Francis has often reiterated the Catholic Church's dogma
about the 'holiness' of human life.
The pope Pope Francis spoke out in June amid a row about the
death of a 17-year-old girl in the Netherlands who suffered
mental health problems after being raped as a child.
The story of Noa Pothoven was initially reported as being a
case of legal euthanasia - although it was subsequently
clarified she had not received government permission to end her
life.
"Euthanasia and assisted suicide are a defeat for all," the
pope said via Twitter.
"We are called never to abandon those who are suffering,
never giving up but caring and loving to restore hope".
Dutch sources said Pothoven had not been euthanised but had
died after refusing food and drink.
"This is not a case of euthanasia," they said.
The Declaration on Euthanasia is the Church's official
document on the topic of euthanasia, a statement that was issued
by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in
1980.
Catholic teaching condemns euthanasia as a "crime against
life" and a "crime against God".
The teaching of the Catholic Church on euthanasia rests on
several core principles of Catholic ethics, including the
sanctity of human life, the dignity of the human person,
concomitant human rights, due proportionality in casuistic
remedies, the inevitability of death, and the importance of
charity.
It has been argued that these are relatively recent
positions, but whatever the position of individual Catholics,
the Roman Catholic Church's viewpoint is unequivocal.
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