The French Episcopal Conference has reacted gravely to the solemn vote of the National Assembly that approved on February 25 the bill proposals relating to palliative care and the so-called “aid in dying”, warning of a true “anthropological change” in French society.
In a communiqué dated February 27 in Paris, the bishops take note of the legal reinforcement of palliative care, which they consider an indispensable condition to guarantee pain relief and dignified accompaniment at the end of life. However, they express “with gravity” their deep opposition to the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide.
A fragile majority and a democratic fracture
The Conference emphasizes that the text was approved by a narrow margin, which reveals a significant fracture within the national representation. An issue that directly affects the conception of human dignity and the role of medicine, the bishops argue, cannot be resolved with such a fragile majority without generating deep democratic unease.
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During the parliamentary debate, they recall, numerous voices—health professionals, jurists, philosophers, patient representatives, and parliamentarians—alerted to the risks of legal ambiguities, social or family pressures on vulnerable people, and a radical transformation of the doctor’s mission, now called not only to heal and relieve, but to cause death.
Freedom of conscience and risk to the most vulnerable
The bishops regret that none of these concerns have been incorporated into the final text, especially the absence of an institutional clause that respects the ethical charters of certain healthcare establishments.
They also criticize the maintenance of the so-called “obstruction offense”, which they consider contrary to freedom of conscience and potentially problematic for suicide prevention actions.
“Deliberately giving death is not progress”
For the French Episcopal Conference, legalizing “aid in dying” does not constitute a simple technical adjustment of the legal system, but a profound shift that modifies the anthropological foundations of society.
“Deliberately giving death cannot constitute human progress”, they affirm firmly, recalling that a truly fraternal society is measured by the way it protects and accompanies the most fragile, not by the ease with which it accepts causing their death.
The communiqué concludes by appealing to the rest of the parliamentary process to reconsider a decision that, in the bishops’ opinion, compromises the very sense of human dignity.