Belgium is embroiled in a religious freedom controversy after the new head of the country’s Roman Catholic Church demanded that church-run hospitals and nursing homes have the right to refuse to euthanize their patients. Euthanasia for terminally ill adults was legalized in Belgium in 2002 and has been broadly supported. But opposition has grown as lawmakers extended the practice to terminally ill children and people with severe psychological problems. In a newspaper interview published the day after Christmas, the nation’s new primate, Archbishop Jozef De Kesel of Mechelen-Brussels, acknowledged that secular-minded Belgians had no problem with abortion or euthanasia. “But it is not obvious from my faith,” he said. “I think that we have the right, on an institutional level, to decide not to do it.” Despite dwindling Mass attendance, the church still plays an important role in Belgium’s mixed private and public health care system. Catholic hospitals, which receive state subsidies, officially offer only palliative care for end-of-life patients, but not all of them have an outright ban on euthanasia in their guidelines.
Euthanasia Challenged
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
When reflecting on the life, death and resurrection of the Lord while living in a state of military invasion and active war, “everything becomes more authentic,” and “God ceases to be just a concept,” says Andriy Zelinskyy, S.J. “He really becomes a source of life and all hope for you and for
One study showed Catholics donated the least amount of money of all denominations surveyed.
Bishop Luis Manuel Alí Herrera and Teresa Morris Kettlekamp will lead the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that exemptions that allow religious organizations to avoid paying Wisconsin’s unemployment tax don’t apply to a Catholic charitable organization.