Campaigners in Italy have passed the first hurdle in an effort to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Both assisted suicide and euthanasia are illegal in Italy, where the criminal law says, “anyone who causes the death of a man, with his consent, is punished with imprisonment from six to fifteen years.”
Since April, pro-euthanasia activists have circulated a petition with the hope of bringing to vote a referendum to remove part of the law, which would effectively decriminalize assisted suicide for adults.
The Italian bishops’ conference has expressed “serious concern” about the petition, stating that “there is no expression of compassion in helping to die.”
Petition organizers said this week they have reached the minimum 500,000 signatures needed for parliament to choose whether to initiate the referendum.
A successful referendum on assisted suicide, activists say, would clear the way for a bill also legalizing euthanasia, though lawmakers in the Catholic-majority country are divided on the issue.
In a statement issued after an online meeting this week, Italy’s bishops said, “anyone who is in conditions of extreme suffering must be helped to manage pain, to overcome anguish and despair, not to eliminate their own life.”
Quoting Samaritanus Bonus, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s 2020 letter on the care of persons in the critical and terminal phases of life, they said: “the Magisterium of the Church recalls that, when one approaches the end of earthly exisstence, the dignity of the human person entails the right to die with the greatest possible serenity and with one’s proper human and Christian dignity intact.”
The document reaffirmed that euthanasia is an “intrinsically evil act.”
In their statement, the bishops said that “choosing death is the defeat of the human, the victory of an individualistic and nihilistic anthropological conception in which neither hope nor interpersonal relationships find more space.”
The referendum effort follows a 2019 ruling by an Italian court which decriminalized euthanasia and assisted suicide for patients who have an “irreversible” condition and are experiencing “intolerable suffering.”
The decision came after the court considered the case of Fabiano Antoniani, a DJ, who in 2017 died at the age of 40 at a euthanasia clinic in Switzerland. Antoniani had quadriplegia and was left blind after a serious car accident in 2014, and required assistance for eating and breathing.
Marco Cappato, an activist for euthanasia and assisted suicide, had been accused of assisting in Antoniani’s death when he accompanied him to Switzerland in 2017, but was effectively cleared by the court.
Another landmark “right-to-die” case was recently won in Italy.
A 43-year-old Italian man, paralyzed in a car accident 10 years ago, sued his local health service when they refused to evaluate if he met the conditions for assisted suicide as defined in the 2019 ruling.
On appeal, a civil court in Ancona ruled that the local health service’s ethics committee must evaluate the man’s eligibility for the procedure. The man, identified as Mario, has said he intends to travel to Switzerland with his family to carry out the act.
Organizers of the “Legal Euthansia” campaign said they have a goal of reaching 750,000 signatures on their referendum petition by the end of September.
In an interview with Vatican News Aug. 16, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia called euthanasia “a new form of eugenics.”
“This is a dangerous suggestion that poisons culture,” said the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life.
“I am deeply concerned. It is essential that the Church remind everyone that fragility, fragility is a constitutive part of human nature and of the whole creation.”
Cappato publicly took issue with Archbishop Paglia’s comments, and called assisted suicide a “sacrosanct right to refuse the imposition of other people’s choices on one’s own body and life.”
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The sisters Madeleine and Marie-Liesse together with Louis Antona at the entrance of Greece. The three young people covered the distance from Paris to Jerusalem on foot, arriving in mid-May 2024. “I needed to walk 4,500 kilometers to understand that Jesus is not just in Jerusalem, but was by my side every step of the way,” Antona told CNA. / Credit: Photo courtesy of French pilgrims Madeleine and Marie-Liesse
Jerusalem, Jun 18, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).
On Sept. 17, 2023, two sisters left Paris and walked for approximately eight months to Jerusalem. Madeleine and Marie-Liesse, 19 and 22, who grew up in a Catholic family, decided to become pilgrims to grow in their faith.
“We needed to make the faith our own,” they told CNA. “This pilgrimage was to discover God, to truly search for him and deepen our faith. We learned that we can trust God; he takes care of us in everything. The Gospel is not a joke.”
Two months later, in mid-November 2023, Louis Antona, 24, also left Paris on foot, bound for Jerusalem. The three young people met providentially in Albania, walked together through Turkey, then parted ways and reunited in Jerusalem. They shared the story of their pilgrimage with CNA.
“I needed to walk 4,500 kilometers to understand that Jesus is not just in Jerusalem but was by my side every step of the way,” Antona told CNA. He walked a total of 189 days and arrived in Jerusalem on May 18.
Madeleine and Marie-Liesse — who asked that their last name not be used to protect their privacy — left from the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre in the center of Paris with the blessing of their parents and a priest.
“It was a calling from God,” Madeleine said of the decision she and her sister made to leave. “There’s no need for reasons when God calls; you simply need to follow what he tells you.”
Madeleine and Marie-Liesse during a moment of their journey, between Slovenia and Croatia. “The faith of the people struck us: during Advent, tradition dictates that Mass be attended every morning at 6, and every time we went, the church was packed with people,” they told CNA. The two sisters left Paris on September 17, 2023, and walked for about eight months to Jerusalem. Credit: Courtesy of French pilgrims Madeleine and Marie-Liesse
The sisters created a simple blog to keep friends and family updated on their pilgrimage. The photos and brief stories reveal all the freshness of two young people on a journey while not hiding moments of doubt and difficulty.
“We chose to embark on this journey as beggars,” Marie-Liesse told CNA. “We left with just a few clothes and nothing else — no food, no money. We wanted to surrender ourselves into the hands of providence. Every evening, we knocked on people’s doors asking for shelter, a bed, and food. The Lord always provided.”
Their days were marked by walking and prayer.
“We didn’t have a strict rule because we had to adapt every day to the people who hosted us, the place, and the situation,” Marie-Liesse explained. “But we had a framework: We knew we had to pray in the morning, at midday, at night… It was important for us to be faithful to God. Every day, we also recited a rosary, praying for the intentions entrusted to us.”
The most challenging moment was making the decision to continue the journey after hearing that war had broken out in the Holy Land. “We were in Germany and full of doubts about whether to go on.”
Their journey led them to cross Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia. In Croatia, “the faith of the people struck us: during Advent, tradition dictates that Mass be attended every morning at 6, and every time we went, the church was packed with people,” the sisters wrote on their blog.
They stopped for a month in Medjugorje (Bosnia and Herzegovina), where their family joined them for Christmas.
“It was a difficult time. Again, we didn’t know what to do. But after a period of discernment, we realized that Christ was calling us back on the road again,” Madeleine said.
Madeleine and Marie-Liesse crossed Montenegro and arrived in Albania, where they encountered Antona.
“I had just finished my studies and wanted to offer something to God,” Antona told CNA. “I wasn’t sure what, but I thought that the best thing I had at that time was time itself. So, I decided to offer God a year of my life by embarking on a journey. It was a challenge; I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy walking and being alone.”
Louis Antona, 24, during a moment of his journey. “I had just finished my studies and wanted to offer something to God,” he told CNA. “I thought that the best thing I had at that time was time itself. So, I decided to offer God a year of my life by embarking on a journey.” Credit: Photo courtesy of Louis Antona
Antona decided to leave, despite the war. “I believe the hardest part of a pilgrimage like this is deciding to start. I knew that if I gave up because of the war, I would never do it again. Anyway, I thought that by the time I arrived, the war would already be over.”
Madeleine and Marie-Liesse are filled with wonder at the manifestation of providence in every detail of their pilgrimage, in the beautiful weather and in the rain, in every small encounter — those who hosted them after seeing them at the bus stop, those who taught them how to make bread, the gentleman who opened his door just before a downpour. “If we had arrived a minute later, we wouldn’t have met him,” they said.
The encounter with Antona wasn’t coincidental either. The two sisters had prayed to God to give them a travel companion.
“We planned to not go through Turkey because we were two women alone, but we would have liked to go that way. So we asked God to meet one pilgrim, and we met him,” the sisters explained.
The three crossed Macedonia and Greece, arriving in Turkey on Palm Sunday. In this predominantly Muslim country, they celebrated Easter, warmly welcomed by the small French-speaking community there.
The sisters Madeleine and Marie-Liesse together with Louis Antona received a blessing from a priest during a Mass in Turkey. They arrived in Turkey on Palm Sunday 2024. In this predominantly Muslim country, they celebrated Easter, warmly welcomed by the small French-speaking community there. Credit: Photo courtesy of Louis Antona
“Every day of this pilgrimage was a miracle,” Antona said. “Every day we have met people who smiled or were nice to us. I have to say that in Turkey we found the most welcoming people.”
“It is not uncommon for the Turks to spontaneously lend us a hand,” Madeleine and Marie-Liesse wrote on their blog. “In Turkey, we encountered an infinite respect for passing strangers and for Christianity, even though Christians here are forced to protect themselves from regular attacks.”
The arrival of Madeleine and Marie-Liesse in Albania. In the photo, Marie-Liesse is in front of a statue of Mother Teresa, who was originally from this country. “Every evening, we knocked on people’s doors asking for shelter, a bed, and food. The Lord always provided,” they told CNA. Credit: Photo courtesy of French pilgrims Madeleine and Marie-Liesse
Upon leaving Turkey, the paths of the three pilgrims split again. The sisters’ route went through Cyprus but they could not find a way from there to Jerusalem by sea due to suspension of transportation because of the war. Providentially, they met someone in Cyprus who offered to pay for airfare, and the sisters arrived in Tel Aviv on May 6. Three days later, on the feast of the Ascension, they were in Jerusalem.
“Many times, we thought we couldn’t reach Jerusalem,” Madeleine said. “We learned that the journey is even more important than reaching the goal. Being here is a great gift, just to be here.”
“We unpacked our bags once and for all, knelt before this Holy Land, and prayed. What peace, what a moment of grace! As we admired the sunrise and the golden light that brought color to the roofs of the old city, we could reread the wonders of God and meditate on the Gospels. His infinite love overwhelmed us,” the two sisters wrote on their blog.
The sisters Madeleine and Marie-Liesse received a blessing from a Franciscan friar at the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher after their arrival in Jerusalem. “The greatest gift is to be here and understand what happened here, to see with our own eyes, to witness the actual places,” Madeleine said. “We were able to pause in every place, to pray and meditate in silence.” Credit: Photo courtesy of French pilgrims Madeleine and Marie-Liesse
Madeleine has no doubts: “Prayer is what carried us. When you’re weak, that’s when you’re strongest because that’s when God can act in you; you don’t take up all the space. Trusting in God can be challenging, but when you understand that God only wants you to be happy and will give you everything you need, then you realize you have everything to be happy in this moment; you can trust him.”
Ten days later, on the eve of Pentecost, Antona also arrived in Jerusalem. “Even if I had to stop somewhere else, at least I would have aimed to reach Jerusalem. This is a very important city for Christians, but the journey you take to reach it is also very important.”
French pilgrim Louis Antona arrived in Jerusalem on May 18, at the vigil of Pentecost. “Every day of this pilgrimage was a miracle,” he said. Credit: Photo courtesy of Louis Antona
The three pilgrims are still in the Holy Land. They have had the opportunity to participate in various celebrations and to visit the holy places in addition to many other sites in the area.
“The greatest gift is to be here and understand what happened here, to see with our own eyes, to witness the actual places,” Madeleine said. “We were able to pause in every place, to pray and meditate in silence.”
A journey like this isn’t for everyone, but all three of the pilgrims agree that “if God calls you, go in peace. If God helps you, everything becomes possible.”
The French pilgrims rest under the portico of the Church of the Beatitudes on a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee. In the photo is Louis Antona. A journey like this isn’t for everyone, but, the three young people said, “if God calls you, go in peace. If God helps you, everything becomes possible.” Credit: Photo courtesy of French pilgrims Madeleine and Marie-Liesse
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The pachamama monstrance at St. John Macias parish in Zapopan, Mexico.
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“The decision came after the court considered the case of Fabiano Antoniani, a DJ, who in 2017 died at the age of 40 at a euthanasia clinic in Switzerland. Antoniani had quadriplegia and was left blind after a serious car accident in 2014, and required assistance for eating and breathing”. In cases like these when a life of continued suffering is intolerable, withdrawal of all life support is morally permissible. To be clear it’s not euthanasia or assisted suicide when absent of introduction of a lethal means [withdrawal of the ventilator for similar reasons was permitted decades ago about the time of Pius XII’s address to anesthesiologists]. It’s scurrilous for Italian legislators to reference these two cases to promote the grave moral violation of medically assisted suicide/euthanasia. What will occur is what is practiced in the Netherlands [and sadly in California, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, Maine, New Jersey, Hawaii, and Washington] is the frequently whimsical request for death when suffering is quite tolerable. Death is as rapidly replacing moral courage as is withdrawal from Christ.
Worth noting is Pius XII on removal of life support from suffering terminal patients: “First, does one have the right, or is even under obligation, to use modern artificial-respiration equipment in all cases? But normally one is held to use only ordinary means [this writer adds to Pius XII nutrition and hydration when applicable]. A more strict obligation would be too burdensome for most men and would render the attainment of higher, more permanent good too difficult. Life, health, all temporal activities are in fact subordinated to spiritual ends” (Pius XII Address to International Congress of Anesthesiologists 11.24.57).
I’m frankly amazed by the comments of archbishop Paglia’s comments given that he overseen the emasculation of the Pontifical Academy of Life from any assemblance of being pro life to being either agnostic or to being in denial of the terms of reference demanded by Pope St John Paul II!
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“The decision came after the court considered the case of Fabiano Antoniani, a DJ, who in 2017 died at the age of 40 at a euthanasia clinic in Switzerland. Antoniani had quadriplegia and was left blind after a serious car accident in 2014, and required assistance for eating and breathing”. In cases like these when a life of continued suffering is intolerable, withdrawal of all life support is morally permissible. To be clear it’s not euthanasia or assisted suicide when absent of introduction of a lethal means [withdrawal of the ventilator for similar reasons was permitted decades ago about the time of Pius XII’s address to anesthesiologists]. It’s scurrilous for Italian legislators to reference these two cases to promote the grave moral violation of medically assisted suicide/euthanasia. What will occur is what is practiced in the Netherlands [and sadly in California, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, Maine, New Jersey, Hawaii, and Washington] is the frequently whimsical request for death when suffering is quite tolerable. Death is as rapidly replacing moral courage as is withdrawal from Christ.
Worth noting is Pius XII on removal of life support from suffering terminal patients: “First, does one have the right, or is even under obligation, to use modern artificial-respiration equipment in all cases? But normally one is held to use only ordinary means [this writer adds to Pius XII nutrition and hydration when applicable]. A more strict obligation would be too burdensome for most men and would render the attainment of higher, more permanent good too difficult. Life, health, all temporal activities are in fact subordinated to spiritual ends” (Pius XII Address to International Congress of Anesthesiologists 11.24.57).
I’m frankly amazed by the comments of archbishop Paglia’s comments given that he overseen the emasculation of the Pontifical Academy of Life from any assemblance of being pro life to being either agnostic or to being in denial of the terms of reference demanded by Pope St John Paul II!