Pope orders Belgian Brothers of Charity to stop
offering euthanasia
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| Pope Francis has ordered the Belgian Brothers of Charity Group to stop offering euthanasia.- AFP |
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has ordered the Belgian
arm of the Brothers of Charity religious order to stop offering euthanasia in
its psychiatric hospitals.
The Holy See Press Office confirmed that the Pope gave his
personal approval to a Vatican letter sent at the beginning of August, which
gives the Catholic charity until the end of August to stop the practice at all
of its 15 centers in Belgium.
Euthanasia is legal in the country, and in May the Brothers
of Charity Group which administers the Belgian hospitals announced it would
allow doctors to perform euthanasia on psychiatric patients.
The charity said in a statement it would be performed only
if there were “no reasonable treatment alternatives”.
Joint letter affirming magisterium
Pope Francis also ordered Brothers of Charity who serve on
the group’s board to sign a joint letter to their Superior General declaring
that they “fully support the vision of the magisterium of the Catholic Church,
which has always confirmed that human life must be respected and protected in
absolute terms, from the moment of conception till its natural end.”
Brothers who refuse to sign the joint letter renouncing the
practice of euthanasia will face sanctions under canon law, while the Catholic
charity group can expect to face legal action and even expulsion from the
Church if it fails to change its policy.
Brothers of Charity statement
Bro. René Stockman, General Superior of the Brothers of
Charity, released a statement in response to the position of his Belgian
brothers.
“The central point and the foundation within Christian
ethics is that life is absolute, which cannot be touched. Life is a gift from
God and entails an assignment. And because life is absolute, it is a state
worthy of protection,” he wrote.
Mattias De Vriendt, a spokesman for the Belgium charity,
said it had received the Vatican's request but had not yet responded.
He confirmed the charity's hospitals had received requests
from patients seeking euthanasia recently but could not say whether any
procedures had been performed.
(Devin Sean Watkins)
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