Nuncio to UK urges Church to oppose assisted suicide bill
(Vatican Radio) The Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain, Archbishop Antonio Mennini,
has urged Catholics in the nation to make their voice heard in opposing the proposed
legalization of assisted suicide.
The new law, which will first be debated
in the House of Lords, would allow doctors to administer lethal doses of drugs to
terminally ill patients.
Addressing a plenary meeting of the Bishops’ Conference
of England and Wales earlier this week, Abp Mennini said: “I cannot fail to express
concern about the Assisted Dying Bill which will be discussed in the next few months
in the House of Lords. This is a very sensitive issue, which required a serious commitment
from us to protect and defend human life as a gift from God”.
Below
please find the full text of Arcbishop Mennini’s address
Dear brother
bishops, dear friends in Christ, I am glad to be with you today as you begin this
Plenary Assembly of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. Indeed
my presence this afternoon among you is a clear sign of the strong links of communion,
both affective and effective, which exist between the Apostolic See and the Catholic
Church that make its journey here in England and Wales.
As always, I am very
grateful for your fraternal invitation to attend this opening session and for the
opportunity given to me to address you as a Bishops Conference, to convey first of
all, the closeness and prayers of our dear Holy Father Pope Francis, as well as to
encourage you in the not always easy task that has been entrusted to you, namely guiding
the People of God with your teaching and with your personal testimony as well as announcing
the “Gospel of Joy” in our society.
Indeed, without entering the discussion
generated by the recent words of the Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron, when he called
Britain a “Christian country”, it is clear that the British society, as in many other
European countries and elsewhere, have been profoundly formed by Christian values;
in the values of the Gospel which have marked the history and the culture of this
country.
However, at the same time, we cannot deny that the presence of the
Church in the public sphere, the practice of people who define themselves as “Christian”
as well as the influence of Christian values in society have declined considerably
nowadays. Are we therefore a “post-Christian nation”, as the former Archbishop of
Canterbury has said?
It is not for me to answer that question, but we cannot
deny the reality all of you know -better than me- very well, since it is in this society,
multi-cultural and multi-faith, where you are called to announce the “Joy of the Gospel”
and to encourage your priests and faithful to do so too.
In this regard, I
cannot fail to express concern about the Assisted Dying Bill which will be discussed
in the next few months in the House of Lords. This is a very sensitive issue, which
required a serious commitment from us to protect and defend human life as a gift from
God. As Pope Francis said in His Message to Catholics in Ireland, Scotland, England
and Wales on the occasion of the Day for Life celebrated last year: “Even the weakest
and most vulnerable, the sick, the old, the unborn and the poor, are masterpieces
of God’s creation, made in his own image, destined to live forever, and deserving
of the utmost reverence and respect”.
More recently, in the Pope’s Message
to the participants in the General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life, last
February, the Holy Father used even stronger words denouncing the “tyrannical dominion
of an economic logic that excludes and sometimes kills, and of which so many today
are victims, beginning with our elderly”, typical of the societies that Francis calls
-in His Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium- “‘thrown away’ culture” in which
the “excluded are not the ‘exploited’ but the outcast, the ’leftovers’” (n. 53). In
this context, -continues the Pope in His Message to the Pontifical Academy for Life-
we “clearly” find in our societies the “exclusion of the elderly, especially when
he or she is ill, disabled or vulnerable for any reason”. Against this kind of exclusion,
the Holy Father affirms that “poor health and disability are never a good reason for
excluding or, worse, for eliminating a person”.
Dear brothers, I am glad to
see the work that the Department for Christian Responsibility and Citizenship is doing
in this regard trying to clarify the “Sense and nonsense on ‘Assisted Dying’”. I thank
Archbishop Peter Smith in a special way. May I encourage them but also each one of
you to announce the Gospel of Life among our People, as well as in Society in general,
presenting the reality which hides behind the “nice”, “politically correct” and “compassionate”
expression “assisted dying”.
Unfortunately we know from experience how easily
public opinion can be manipulated, especially using “emotional” arguments that try
to move compassionate sentiments. But once we open this “Pandora’s box” we know as
well the horrible consequences that follow. We have seen that even here, among us,
regarding abortion, and the last news about “selective abortion”. But also elsewhere,
in other European countries which recently have made change in their laws moving from
a limited concept of “euthanasia” to a wider spectre, also including children, as
in Belgium.
We, as the Catholic Church, have to make our voice heard in this
regard as you have already done successfully in other fields. For instance, the success
of the Conference on Human Trafficking held at the Vatican last April, and the remarks
of the President of your Conference, Cardinal Nichols, in defence of those excluded
in our rich societies, mainly the poor and immigrants that have suffered from cuts
in social benefits who therefore feel themselves excluded from social welfare. Please
be assured of our support, as well as that of the Holy Father, regarding this important
issue.
Dear friends, before concluding I would like to congratulate once again
Cardinal Vincent Nichols for been chosen by Pope Francis to form part of the College
of Cardinals and thus to help Him in His service as Shepherd of the Universal Church.
Congratulations to all of you as well for the recent appointment of two British to
relevant posts within the Roman Curia, namely, Monsignor Brian Ferme, from Portsmouth
Diocese, as Prelate Secretary of Council for Economy, and Lady Margaret Archer as
President of the Pontifical Academy for the Social Sciences. And last, but certainly
not least, we also rejoice for the successful visit of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth
to Pope Francis at the beginning of last April, a clear sign of the strong links and
reciprocal esteem that exist between this Country and the Holy See, the Queen and
the Pope.
Finally, I want to congratulate the newly appointed bishops, Their
Excellencies Robert Byrne, Nicholas Hudson and Alan Williams as well as His Grace
Malcolm McMahon. To all of them as well as Bishop Thomas McMahon, who has become Bishop
Emeritus of Brentwood, my gratitude for their willingness and generosity to serve
the Church in the important mission as Successors of the Apostles. Congratulations
too to the staff of the Apostolic Nunciature.
Dear brothers, I conclude by
reassuring you of my prayers, my friendship and my support, as well as that of the
Nunciature staff. We have a wonderful mission to fulfil. We know that it is not easy,
but we also know much more that it is worth doing as well as we can, because it is
a mission entrusted to us by the Lord and that it is ultimately done by Him, through
our poor persons. Therefore let us place our trust in the Risen Lord, who rising from
the death has given us His most precious gift, the Holy Spirit to enlighten us and
strength us in this mission as He did on Pentecost Day, when the Apostles were together
with the Blessed Virgin Mary in prayer. We are sure that just as he did then, at the
beginning of the Church, he continues to do now. May God bless you and all the People
of God who journey in England and Wales. I thank you for your kind attention.