On Sunday, the French bishops wrote to the heads of Catholic-inspired healthcare institutions in their country, telling them that they must prepare to use their legal right to refuse to participate in assisted suicide and euthanasia.
In July this year, France’s parliament legalized an “aid in dying” law that is set to come into force in January 2027 and the French bishops said it is imperative that Catholic healthcare providers are prepared for this.
The bishops highlighted that in August, the Constitutional Council offered an interpretation of the new law that “allows health establishments not to implement ‘assisted dying’ within them, if it is contrary to their statutes or their project.”
The letter referenced Pope Leo XIV’s recent visit to France during which he reiterated the Church’s opposition to assisted suicide and called it “false compassion.”
In light of this, the bishops encouraged the institutions to “remain faithful to the Holy Father’s call by reaffirming the Church’s clear disapproval of the morally illicit acts of euthanasia and assisted suicide.”
“To this end, it is important to prepare your institutional and legal framework to benefit from the provision issued by the Constitutional Council, which will allow you to refuse assisted dying in your facilities,” the letter said.
“It is therefore urgent that your legal and administrative framework be updated (charters, statutes, internal regulations, etc.),” the bishops continued.
“In Belgium, a type of establishment clause provided for by the 2002 law was repealed in 2020. One of the arguments was the poor management of this clause. This point must therefore be addressed with rigor and expertise,” they added.
The bishops said that a number of institutions had approached the bishops’ conference for advice, and on the back of that a “comprehensive doctrinal and pastoral document for healthcare facility managers, caregivers, chaplains, and pastoral workers will be published in 2027.”
“Until then, we will promptly answer any questions received, bearing in mind that we cannot replace the individual discernment that each person must undertake, and that certain questions depend on the direction of the implementing decrees and forthcoming policy guidelines,” they stated.
The bishops finished by thanking the healthcare professionals for their work.
“We thank all those who, alongside you, are committed to serving people facing the end of their lives. We assure you of our closeness, our availability, and our prayers to help you face these new and difficult circumstances in our country in the most faithful and appropriate way possible, in accordance with the Gospel,” they said.
France’s new law
The “aid in dying” law passed in July after a protracted process through France’s parliament.
France’s senate rejected the law on three separate occasions after the National Assembly repeatedly approved the law.
In the end, the government invoked Article 45 of the French constitution to allow the National Assembly to pass the law without the senate’s approval.
France’s Catholic bishops spoke out against the law on numerous occasions.
Vincent Jordy, Archbishop of Tours and vice president of the country’s bishops’ conference, spoke to Crux Now ahead of the bill’s legalization, warning that not all things that are considered progress turn out to be.
“Over the past 150 years, we have developed industrial progress that is now turning against humanity and gradually making the earth uninhabitable. What once appeared to be progress is ultimately not as obviously beneficial as it seemed. But it took time to realize this,” he said.
“The same applies to moral life and societal choices. Some choices that may seem like solutions can ultimately produce harmful effects on society. It is therefore important to help our contemporaries exercise discernment so as not to be misled by a kind of ideology of progress,” he added.
