The Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference “totally rejects” a recommendation the incoming government should legalise assisted suicide in restricted circumstances. Source: The Tablet.
Speaking before Ireland’s general election this Friday, the bishops said in a statement: “Over recent years, we have witnessed a diminution in the respect for human life in our political discourse.
“The value of people’s lives seems to be calculated as if it were simply part of a cost-benefit analysis. Where is the hope in this?”
The bishops suggested that as well as questioning candidates about their stance on assisted suicide, voters should also question them about their position on abortion.
Since the introduction of what they termed “a very liberal abortion law” in 2018, 40,000 abortions have been carried out in Ireland.
The bishops noted that some politicians want to liberalise the abortion law, while efforts are made to make legislative provision for assisted dying.
“We totally reject that recommendation because a fundamental principle of civilised society is that no person can lawfully take the life of another,” they said.
Coyne Bishop William Crean forecast, while expressing solidarity with families struggling to meet nursing care costs, increased pressure on the elderly and frail in the push for assisted suicide.
“How we care for the weakest and most vulnerable goes to the core of our moral fibre and integrity as a society,” he said.
Bishop Crean described the culture of palliative care across Ireland as an “extraordinary witness to compassionate care for all approaching life’s end”.
But he warned that “enormous” pressure would be brought to bear on frail, elderly and others diagnosed with terminal illness to succumb to a potentially “new culture of death”.
Bishop Crean’s concerns were echoed by Bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin and Achonry, who described the silence around the issue of assisted dying before the election as “disconcerting.”
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Irish bishops reject assisted suicide (By Sarah MacDonald, The Tablet)
