Following the recent failure of the assisted suicide bill in the UK parliament, as well as the rejection of a similar bill in the French Senate, an English archbishop has said that defending life from conception to death is a key marker of a civilized society.
Speaking to Crux Now, Archbishop John Wilson of Southwark archdiocese explained that the Church has a duty to sustain the values that defend every human life.
“A primary test of a civilized society is the extent to which it protects its most vulnerable members. The Lord Jesus is clear: ‘as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me,’” Wilson said.
“He also gave us a new commandment: to love one another as he has loved us. These are not poetic phrases or religious slogans. They are the principles that build and sustain civilization. Our duty – as a society and as a Church – is to be tireless and steadfast in defending every human life, from conception to natural death,” he added.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s bill passed the House of Commons last June by 314 to 291 votes, but the bill fell this April after it ran out of parliamentary time while it was being debated in the House of Lords, with over 1200 amendments to the bill tabled.
Similarly, last week the French Senate rejected for the second time an assisted suicide bill that was under debate, with the bill now having to go back to the National Assembly – France’s lower house – for a third time.
“The mission of the Church is to continue to uphold the dignity of every human life from conception to natural death,” Wilson said.
“Our responsibility is to be faithful to the teaching of Christ and his Church,” he added.
Wilson also talked about the young people who have been drawn to the church in recent years, saying that “there is a real thirst within young people for a sense of belonging, for connection and for hope.”
The full interview is below.
Crux Now: At least 590 people were baptised or received into the Church this Easter in your archdiocese, with half of them under 35. What do you think is driving this? Why are such a large proportion of the people young?
Archbishop John Wilson: There is a tendency to write young people off as uninterested and unreachable by Christianity. We hear that even if they are searching for something, it can’t be found in a religion that is over 2,000 years old. But anyone who has spent any time listening to a young person will know how wrong this is.
There is a real thirst within young people for a sense of belonging, for connection and for hope. Their hearts and minds are crying out for an encounter with Christ and that is exactly what the Catholic Church offers them. The Church helps them to understand that even before they began searching for God, he had already found them and called them. As the Lord Jesus himself said to his apostles – and to each of us – “you did not choose me, but I chose you”.
The Catholic Church offers something different to what can often feel like a noisy world of meaningless distractions and empty encounters. It offers something real and tangible, it offers someone: an encounter with the Lord Jesus, who alone quenches that thirst and offers us life.
The love of Christ is a truthful love which can be challenging. And yet, our experience is that young people are not afraid of challenge or the call to greatness. They want to know about truth and goodness and beauty. Our joy is to announce Christ as the fulfilment of this truthful love, where the Church and her sacraments provide the place of deep encounter with the truth and love Jesus Christ.
When we announce the Gospel with faithfulness, joy, and compassion, young people respond. This is what we are seeing in our parishes. We have some beautiful testimonies about younger and older people meeting Christ personally in his Church, filling their hearts with confidence and hope, and with a burning desire to lead others to Christ too.
590 people were present at our Rite of Election this year. The majority of these are adults to be baptised, although the actual number baptised and received is higher.
In your opinion, what is the key to effective evangelization?
I always give the same answer to this question. We must follow the pattern of the apostles who preached Christ crucified and risen with passion, and who invited people to encounter him within the life of his Church. I always look to Acts 2:42. This apostolic model is still the pattern for evangelisation and, I think, will remain so. We want to invite people to know the Lord Jesus, through his Word, through the sacraments, through prayer – all nourished and sustained by the community of faith. This is how hearts are changed, but it is also how hearts remain close to Christ.
For the last year or so, there has been a lot of talk of a quiet growth of Christianity in the UK. At the same time, recently the House of Lords voted to keep an amendment allowing abortion up to birth. How do you reconcile these seemingly contradictory things?
I don’t think these are necessarily contradictory. Since the passing of the first Abortion Act (1967) in the UK, there have been challenges to the sanctity of life through legislation. Most recently, we saw this with attempts to legalise assisted suicide. The mission of the Church is to continue to uphold the dignity of every human life from conception to natural death. There are voices very much opposed to this. However, what we have seen as shoots of renewal in the Catholic Church will, please God, raise up a new generation of women and men who are committed to valuing every human life. Our responsibility is to be faithful to the teaching of Christ and his Church.
In reaction to the vote in the House of Lords, you asked how such legislation can have “any place in a civilized society”. What, to you, are the ideals of a civilized culture?
A primary test of a civilized society is the extent to which it protects its most vulnerable members. The Lord Jesus is clear: “as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” He also gave us a new commandment: to love one another as he has loved us. These are not poetic phrases or religious slogans. They are the principles that build and sustain civilization. Our duty – as a society and as a Church – is to be tireless and steadfast in defending every human life, from conception to natural death.
I heard you speak once about how the Church lost many of the social and cultural debates of the 20th Century in the Western world. How can the Church change people’s minds on controversial topics such as abortion and assisted suicide?
We must listen carefully and speak truthfully – not to score points or to just win an argument, but because we are called to give an account of the hope within us. The Lord Jesus always met people where they were, but he loved them too much to leave them there. That is our model: speak the truth, but speak it with the love and respect the Lord demands of us.
Pope Leo’s first encyclical about AI will be coming out next week. Do you have any expectations for the encyclical? What is your take on AI?
I await the encyclical with great anticipation. Pope Leo XIV has already shown great wisdom in his cautions about AI, and I know he will continue to guide us well. Technology is a tool – it is a signpost, not a destination. It needs to be placed at the service and dignity of human flourishing. It cannot replace genuine human interpersonal relationships and certainly cannot replace the encounter with Christ. The Christian life is ecclesial and sacramental, sustained by prayer and brought to its summit in the Eucharist. Well-catechised Catholics, who know their faith deeply and who know Christ intimately, will be able to harness AI for evangelisation and mission without being misled.
As conflict continues to rage in the Middle East, Pope Leo has consistently called for peace. Why is it that so many politicians find the logic of war so difficult to resist?
Pope Leo’s courage in proclaiming Christ’s demand for peace has been an inspiration. I am not a politician or a statesman – I am a disciple and a shepherd. It is why, as a follower of the Lord Jesus, the Prince of Peace, I believe that each of us is called to be a beacon of his peace. So many tensions revolve around power and self-interest. The challenge is how to reframe this to keep central the dignity and value of the human person and of the human community. This has to be an international effort where there is a genuine commitment to negotiation rather than force.
I keep praying for peace in the Middle East, for the conversion of the minds and hearts of all who think war is the answer, and for our Holy Father as he leads the world to Christ in this faithful witness.
