The Catholic bishops plead for "
active help to live
", rather than for "
active help to die
", in a forum where they call for the development of the offer of palliative care and not to deal with these questions "
under pressure
" .
.
This column, published on the website of the newspaper
Le Monde
on Friday September 16, is signed by the Permanent Council of the Conference of Bishops of France (a sort of executive), which includes in its ranks in particular Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, president, Jean -Marc Aveline, cardinal and archbishop of Marseille or Laurent Ulrich, archbishop of Paris.
It comes shortly after the opinion issued by the National Consultative Ethics Committee (CCNE), which accepts, for the first time, the possibility of “
active
” assistance in dying.
“Need for relationship and closeness”
“
Listening to patients, caregivers, families, palliative care players, we perceive that the essential need of the greatest number is to be considered, respected, helped, accompanied, not abandoned.
Their suffering must be relieved, but their appeals also express their need for relationship and closeness.
Isn't the deepest expectation of all actively assisted living, rather than actively assisted dying?
“, they ask.
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According to the bishops, “
for several decades, a balance has gradually been found in our country to avoid aggressive treatment and promote palliative care.
This
“
French way
”
was able to become a school and says something about the ethical heritage of our country
”, they plead.
“Difficult” question
But, they regret, palliative care “
is still absent from a quarter of French departments
”.
"
During the crisis linked to Covid-19, our society made heavy sacrifices to
'
save the lives
'
, in particular of the most fragile people (...)
", they argue.
“
How can we understand that, only a few months after this great national mobilization, the impression is given that society would see no other way out of the test of fragility or the end of life than active assistance in dying, than assisted suicide?
“, they ask.
Read alsoEnd of life: citizen consultation, a “false public debate” that does not convince
"
The question of the end of life is so sensitive and so delicate that it cannot be dealt with under pressure
", they plead, while a national debate is about to begin.
For them, it is “
necessary to listen seriously and serenely to caregivers, patient associations, carers, philosophers, the different religious traditions to guarantee the conditions for authentic democratic discernment.
»