Dozens of British Catholic hospices and care homes could be forced to close if MPs vote in favour of assisted suicide tomorrow, Cardinal Vincent Nichols says. Source: Catholic Herald.
The Archbishop of Westminster and president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales said it was not possible for Catholic institutions to abide by a legal duty to provide assistance in suicide.
In a joint statement with Archbishop John Sherrington of Liverpool, the lead bishop for life issues, Cardinal Nichols said that many Catholic residential homes for the elderly and hospices would have to “withdraw from care” if the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill passes Third Reading.
“We call attention to the fact that the future of many care homes and hospices will be put in grave doubt if the bill becomes law,” they said in their statement.
“Our Parliament has now rejected amendments that would have allowed such institutions not to be involved in assisted suicide.”
They said that Care Minister Stephen Kinnock, who introduced the bill, and other MPs have indicated that “the rights that this bill will give to individuals to seek assisted suicide, and to employees to participate in an assisted suicide, are likely to trump the mission and values of institutions such as hospices and care homes”.
The archbishops said: “In other words, a right to assisted suicide given to individuals is highly likely to become a duty on care homes and hospices to facilitate it.
“We fear that this bill will thereby seriously affect the provision of social care and palliative care across the country.
“Institutions whose mission has always been to provide compassionate care in sickness or old age, and to provide such care until the end of life, may have no choice, in the face of these demands, but to withdraw from the provision of such care.
“The widespread support which hospices attract from local communities will also be undermined by these demands which, in many cases, will require these institutions to act contrary to their traditional and principled foundations.
“This tragedy can only be avoided by the defeat of this bill on Friday.”
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Cardinal Nichols: We will close Catholic hospices and care homes if MPs vote for assisted suicide (By Simon Caldwell, Catholic Herald)
