VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, has been forced to issue a new statement after he delivered public comments supporting euthanasia last week.
“Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, reiterates his ‘no’ towards euthanasia and assisted suicide, in full adherence to the Magisterium,” reads an April 24 press release from the Academy for Life (PAV). The official English translation is found here.
Background
The statement was issued after news broke of a recent intervention made by Paglia during a conference last week, during which he defended euthanasia. Paglia’s text, published April 23, caused a storm online with numerous commentators slating Paglia and calling the archbishop’s comments “deeply scandalous.”
Paglia had stated that “personally, I would not practice suicide assistance, but I understand that legal mediation may be the greatest common good concretely possible under the conditions we find ourselves in.”
READ: Abp. Paglia defends assisted suicide as ‘greatest common good possible’ for dying people
He also cited Pope Francis’ change to the promoted teaching on the death penalty, saying that while “before we did not exclude that there were circumstances for which it could be legitimized, today we no longer consider it permissible, under any circumstances.”
Highlighting “accompaniment,” Paglia stated that such accompaniment “requires a great deal of work on oneself, not only on a personal level, but also on a social and cultural one, on one’s being in solidarity with the limit, in the separation and passage of death.”
Liberal bishops around the world continue promoting heterodox views on homosexuality, female priests, divorce, contraception, and more — advancing anti-Catholic positions that jeopardize the salvation of souls.
Such bishops often sideline, ignore and even persecute traditional Catholics who simply ask that the Faith be preserved and passed on to their children.
But traditional Catholics cannot be silenced any longer, which is why we are uniting in this international boycott of modernist bishops and dioceses until the deposit of Faith is upheld by the hierarchy again.
SIGN: We will not fund modernist bishops or priests who undermine the Catholic Faith, but rather direct our contributions towards faithful clergy and orders that work for the salvation of souls.
There are countless examples of bishops working against Christ’s Church in calling for divine law to be ignored in favor of sexual, doctrinal and liturgical deviancy, even trying to clamp down on Catholics who practise the Faith.
Just last year, Cardinal Cupich banned traditional prayers after Mass, and more recently has curtailed the Traditional Latin Mass in his diocese.
Cardinal Cupich has banned the Hail Mary and St Michael Prayer after Mass
Who but a devil would ban these prayers after Mass
— Nick Donnelly (@ProtecttheFaith) August 27, 2021
The attack on the Faith is out in the open, with modernist bishops causing scandal in countless ways:
We have seen enough. Now is the time to show true Catholic unity against those who undermine the Faith – do not be bullied into submission by these men who would disfigure Christ’s Church.
JOIN THE BOYCOTT & SHARE! Tell everyone you know to STOP giving money to bishops who attack the Catholic Faith.
“We therefore commit to a financial boycott of modernist bishops until the hierarchy resolves to uphold the entire deposit of Faith.”
If the bishops refuse to uphold and protect the teaching of Christ’s Bride, the Catholic Church, then we must refuse to support them until they repent.
Thank you
P.S. — Demanding that liberal bishops be held to account through financial boycott will help save the Church from doctrinal and pastoral ruin. This is the first step in restoring the Faith for future generations. Our time is now, so please join us by signing today!
Photos: Pope Francis. Flickr. Long Thiên; Cardinal Cupich. Flickr. Goat_Girl; Collection Plate: Lisa F. Young/Shutterstock
He next pointed a 2019 ruling by the Italian Constitutional Court (242/2019), which partially decriminalized euthanasia by outlining exceptions to its illegality:
In this context, it is not to be ruled out that in our society a legal mediation is feasible that would allow assistance to suicide under the conditions specified by Constitutional Court Sentence 242/2019: the person must be ‘kept alive by life-support treatments and affected by an irreversible pathology, source of physical or psychological suffering that she considers intolerable, but fully capable of making free and conscious decisions.’ The bill passed by the House of Representatives (but not the Senate) basically went along these lines.
Personally, I would not practice suicide assistance, but I understand that legal mediation may be the greatest common good concretely possible under the conditions we find ourselves in.
Paglia’s attempt to backtrack or double down?
Following swift media coverage of Paglia’s statements — which came in direct contradiction of Church teaching on euthanasia — the PAV issued a statement likely aimed at a form of damage control.
However, far from denouncing Paglia’s words and affirming Catholic teaching on the matter, the PAV supported its president. Referencing the 242/2019 court ruling which Paglia had spoken about, the PAV stated it was in the context of this ruling that Paglia had made his comments.
In this precise and specific context, Msgr. Paglia explained that in his opinion a “legal mediation” (certainly not a moral one) in the direction indicated by the Sentence is possible, maintaining the crime and the conditions under which it is decriminalized, as the same Constitutional Court has asked Parliament to legislate.
The PAV added that Paglia deemed it “important that the Sentence states that the crime remains as such and is not abolished. Any further consideration is misleading.”
Additionally, the PAV declared that “on a scientific and cultural level, Msgr. Paglia has always advocated the need for accompaniment towards the sick in the terminal phase of life, based on Palliative Care and proximity, so that no one is left alone in the face of illness and suffering, in the difficult decisions they entail.”
However, the PAV’s statement did not address the statements made by its president. Paglia had spoken about the “accompaniment” needed for the dying and then continued to say that “in this context, it is not to be ruled out that in our society a legal mediation is feasible …”
He did not appear to be simply referencing the existence of the partially decriminalized euthanasia laws, but actively promoting them — albeit while stating he would not practice assisted suicide personally: “Personally, I would not practice suicide assistance, but I understand that legal mediation may be the greatest common good concretely possible under the conditions we find ourselves in.”
The PAV’s statement has been met with consternation by Catholic commentators.
Sorry guys, not good enough. Nowhere near good enough.
Archbishop Paglia’s “opinion” on the possibility of “juridical mediation” regarding euthanasia is still contrary to the Catholic faith, as has been explained already. https://t.co/qMATq0UZrL pic.twitter.com/W8s4zLvkj7— Matthew Hazell (@M_P_Hazell) April 24, 2023
“How hard is it for the @PontAcadLife to just say ‘sorry’ for scandalising the faithful?,” asked liturgist Matthew Hazell, who had highlighted Paglia’s original comments. “Indeed, how hard is it to actually adhere to the teaching of the Church on life issues? Are you so incapable of reading the signs of the times & interpreting them in the light of the Gospel?”
Others noted that Paglia, far from apologizing, “stubbornly continues to maintain that a legal argument could be made for the decriminalization of euthanasia.”
Providence’s Bishop Thomas Tobin also weighed in on Paglia’s original statement, declaring that “comments about assisted suicide being ‘feasible’ are wrong and harmful.”
Archbishop Paglia’s comments about assisted suicide being “feasible” are wrong and harmful. It’s the kind of “crack in the wall” that opponents of human life will run with to promote their agenda. The teaching of the Church is clear: Euthanasia is “morally unacceptable.” Period.
— Bishop Thomas Tobin (@ThomasJTobin1) April 24, 2023
As LifeSite has reported, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s 1980 “Declaration on Euthanasia” stated clearly that “no one is permitted to ask for this act of killing, either for himself or herself or for another person entrusted to his or her care, nor can he or she consent to it, either explicitly or implicitly, nor can any authority legitimately recommend or permit such an action.”