5 minWorld
Pope Leo XIV Denounces Assisted Suicide as 'False Compassion' at Lourdes Hospital
During a visit to medical facilities in Lourdes, France, Pope Leo XIV called for an end to medically assisted suicide, urging the healthcare community to care for the suffering rather than eliminate them.
Pope Leo XIV used a visit to medical facilities in Lourdes, France, on Sunday to deliver a forceful condemnation of medically assisted suicide, calling on the healthcare community to reject what he described as a «false compassion» that leads to the taking of human life.
After celebrating Mass in the Marian shrine town, the pope addressed a large crowd that cheered as he affirmed the dignity of every human person. Speaking in French, he said it is «precisely in the name of this inalienable dignity of the human person that we must reject the temptation to cause death under the guise of false compassion.»
He continued: «It is impossible to regard causing death as something normal. What is legal is not necessarily moral.» The pope’s remarks came during a historic four-day visit to France, and they placed the Catholic Church’s opposition to assisted suicide at the center of his public message.
Lourdes, a destination for pilgrims seeking healing and hope, provided a symbolic backdrop. «Here in Lourdes, the city of the sick and of hope, I appeal to the entire healthcare community to remember the profound meaning of your vocation, which is to care for a suffering person, not to eliminate that person,» the pope said.
He also warned against allowing medicine to become an instrument of death, stating: «No one ever has the right based on laboratory algorithms to decide the life of a given embryo or elderly person. Medicine must never become the servant of programmed death.»
The pope’s intervention comes as assisted suicide is legal in many Western countries, including France. The practice has drawn intense scrutiny, particularly in Canada, where the Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program has expanded widely.
Last week, the family of an 83-year-old Canadian woman demanded answers after she died through MAID despite allegedly becoming distraught when told the procedure would end her life. According to reports, Brigitte Stegemann, a Christian grandmother, was killed under the program on July 10.
Her granddaughter, Brigitte Kranendonk, said she was her grandmother’s primary caregiver and that the family had placed Stegemann at The Pearl care home in Cannifton due to physical and mental decline. Kranendonk said her grandmother still had a good appetite even after a stomach cancer diagnosis and had rejected MAID when it was first presented as an option.
Kranendonk said she was present for Stegemann’s second MAID assessment, where the doctor used «really loose terms, never using the words death or dying.» She quoted the doctor as telling her grandmother: «We’re going to give you medicine, you’re going to feel at peace. And I just want you to know that you won’t have a bowel movement.»
When Kranendonk interjected that her grandmother did not understand, the doctor allegedly said, «We’re going to make sure you won’t have any more pain.» Stegemann was later deemed fit for MAID and the procedure proceeded, according to the account.
Two days before her death, Kranendonk asked her grandmother directly whether she understood that the scheduled procedure meant she would die. According to Kranendonk, Stegemann began crying and said she had «made a mistake.»
The pope’s remarks in Lourdes are likely to intensify debates over end-of-life laws in France and beyond. His appeal to the healthcare community to protect life at every stage echoes longstanding Catholic teaching, but it also lands in a political moment when several jurisdictions are weighing or expanding assisted suicide laws.
In the United States, the issue remains contentious. Michigan Democrats recently proposed a package seeking to legalize assisted suicide, while Catholic nuns in New York have sued the state, arguing that its assisted suicide law forces them to violate their faith. A lawyer for the nuns said their challenge is about protecting freedom.
Pope Leo XIV’s visit to France, which began with a historic four-day itinerary, has already drawn attention for its focus on human dignity. By choosing Lourdes, a place associated with care for the sick, he underscored a message that suffering must be met with compassion that preserves life, not compassion that ends it.
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