Description
In response to questions asked by ‘a number of Episcopal Conferences’, this document sets out the Church’s teaching on euthanasia. Note the date which is prior to moves in the Netherlands for the legal toleration of euthanasia. It is in four sections:
I. Human life is the basis of all human goods and all society. Life is also a gift of God, believers are called upon to preserve and make fruitful. It follows that ‘No one can make an attempt on the life of an innocent person without opposing God’s love for that person’ and ‘without violating a fundamental right’. It is also the case that intentionally causing one’s own death, i.e. suicide, is ‘equally as wrong as murder’.
II. Euthanasia is ‘an action or an omission which of itself or by intention causes death, in order that all suffering may in this way be eliminated’. Nothing can permit the killing of an innocent human being, including ‘one suffering from an incurable disease, or a person who is dying’. Euthanasia is therefore ‘a violation of the divine law, an offense against the dignity of the human person, a crime against life, and an attack on humanity’.
III. Human suffering has a certain usefulness but may go beyond this. Suffering can be accept voluntarily to associate oneself with the sufferings of Christ crucified but this is an exceptional and heroic way of acting. Christian prudence suggests for the majority of sick people the use of medicine to alleviate pain even when these reduced lucidity.
IV. Due proportion in the use of remedies: Everyone has the duty to care for his or he own health or to seek such care from others. However a particular treatment may be disproportionate to the results foreseen. Refusing treatments because they are risky or burdensome is not the equivalent of suicide; on the contrary, it should be considered as an acceptance of the human condition.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith was at that time known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, but the current name is used here for consistency.
NB This description is not to be understood as a commentary or interpretation. It is provided only as an aid to help find material on particular bioethical topics.
Read on The Vatican web site