Chief Rabbinate signs declaration against euthanasia in Vatican
Assisted suicide has become legal in several countries, notably Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada, and some states in the US, but is highly controversial.
By JEREMY SHARONPope Francis leads the Angelus prayer in Saint Peter's Square, after the closing of a four-day meeting on the global sexual abuse crisis, at the Vatican, February 24, 2019(photo credit: REMO CASILLI/ REUTERS)
Representatives of the Chief Rabbinate together with Christian and Muslim religious leaders came together on Monday to sign a declaration in the Vatican in the presence of Pope Francis expressing their opposition to euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.The declaration said that all instances of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide were “inherently and consequentially morally and religiously wrong,” and that they should be “forbidden with no exceptions.”The religious leaders declared that in situations of terminal illness and chronic pain, even when “efforts to continue staving off death seems unreasonably burdensome, we are morally and religiously duty-bound to provide comfort, effective pain and symptoms relief, companionship, care and spiritual assistance to the dying patient and to her/his family.”Present at the ceremony representing the Chief Rabbinate was Rabbi Ratzon Arusi and Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Weiss, as well as Prof. Avraham Steinberg – the Chief Rabbinate’s representative to the interfaith committee, who initially proposed the notion of an interfaith declaration on the issue to Pope Francis – and Rabbi David Rosen, the Chief Rabbinate’s adviser on interfaith matters.Sheikh Abdallah Bin Bayyah, co-chair of the Peace Charter for Forgiveness and Reconciliation, signed on behalf of Muslims, while the president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, coordinated the joint interfaith group to draft the declaration.Assisted suicide has become legal in several countries, notably Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada and some states in the US, but is highly controversial.At the same time, campaigners for assisted suicide have argued that the loss of autonomy and dignity that is inherent in many terminal issues, the lack of ability to enjoy life as well as chronic pain suffered by some terminal and non-terminal patients requires that they have the right to choose when to end their own lives.The religious leaders declared in a position paper drafted for the event that “euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are inherently and consequentially morally and religiously wrong,” that palliative care should be embraced to assist dying patients in the final months, weeks and days.“We commend laws and policies that protect the rights and the dignity of the dying patient, in order to avoid euthanasia and promote palliative care,” they wrote.They also added that “society must assure that patients’ desire not to be a burden does not inspire them the feeling of being useless and the subsequent unawareness of the value and dignity of their life, which deserves care and support until its natural end.”“To take the initiative to shorten a person’s life is murder,” Weiss told The Jerusalem Post. “We believe that there is something sacred in life, it is given to us and it is not for us to decide when to end our life. Life is a gift of God, and no one has a right to spurn it.”Weiss said that the presence of leaders of other faiths was “a beacon of light” in troubled times and said that it was very significant that the major monotheistic faiths could come together on this issue.“It was remarkable that representatives of the three major monotheistic groups were able to come together around the idea that we are all created in the image of God, and cannot take a life,” he explained. “People must realize that there is a glimmer of light that religions who have been warring together have found common ground and that is in the sanctity of human life. A person who saves a life saves an entire world, and a person who destroys a life destroys an entire world.”
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