In France, Catholic bishops have urged opponents in the country’s legislature to keep resisting the introduction of assisted dying.
The request from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of France has come after a bill to legalise assisted dying was passed last week in the Lower House of the National Assembly.
The first reading of the revised bill, which has been backed by the government, was approved by a vote of 299 to 226.
Earlier, another version had been passed by the National Assembly after its First Reading last May, by 305 to 199.
In a statement responding to last week’s vote, the bishops said: “We reiterate our profound opposition to legislation legalising euthanasia and assisted suicide. . . It represents a fundamental anthropological shift that will profoundly alter the foundations of society.
“The narrow margin of votes that allowed the text to pass, coupled with the steadily increasing number of votes against, reveals a significant division between our national representatives. Such a fundamental issue cannot be decided by such a slim majority without perpetuating a deep democratic malaise.”
The revised bill features two sections, including strengthening palliative care and establishing a conditional right to an assisted death.
The provision for palliative care has pleased the bishops, who said "a priority and imperative of justice" had been included in the bill, first tabled in June 2024.
However, “specific and well-reasoned warnings” by healthcare professionals, legal experts, philosophers, and patient representatives have been ignored, along with ethical and freedom-of-conscience provisos, the bishops warned.
The decision to move forward “without a broad consensus” was “deeply troubling”, they added.
President Emmanuel Macron, who has publicly supported the bill, described it as a “law of fraternity” in his New Year's Eve broadcast.
Despite this, Parliamentary opposition to the Bill has increased over the past year. Jewish, Muslim, and Orthodox leaders in France have also voiced opposition.
Speaking in January, the United Protestant Church said that its members were “pluralistic in matters of ethics”, adding that it did not believe in a “rigid framework” for defining “dignity, individual freedom or collective responsibility”.