Leo XIV in Lourdes: ‘It is impossible to consider euthanasia normal’

In Lourdes, a place where millions of sick people come to ask the Virgin Mary for a cure for their ailments, Pope Leo XIV stated this Sunday that it is "impossible" to consider euthanasia and assisted suicide as something "normal." During a meeting with sick and disabled pilgrims, the pontiff insisted that "no human law should cause them to lose the certainty of their dignity."

After years of debate, the French Parliament authorized euthanasia and assisted suicide in July for certain patients with incurable illnesses, despite opposition from the church, which claimed it was an "anthropological rupture."

"The offer of a scheduled death"

"It is impossible to consider ending a life as normal. What is legal is not necessarily moral," said the pope, who on Friday had already spoken out against "the offer of a scheduled death" in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron.

"Here, illness is not hidden. It is never viewed as a humiliation or a loss of dignity. On the contrary: it allows the deepest human dignity to shine in full light, like a light that illuminates hearts and bodies, revealing the greatest love that transcends all suffering," he added to the audience, who responded with applause.

"Looking away or closing one's eyes to the dignity of human life"

"In an age when some societies tend to look away or close their eyes to the dignity of human life, 'it is urgent, above all, to cultivate, in ourselves and in others, a contemplative gaze,'" he insisted, quoting St. John Paul II.

"I know that, for some of you who suffer from specific illnesses and sometimes terrible pain, the future may seem dark, uncertain, and hopeless. But no human law should make us lose sight of the certainty of your dignity. On the contrary, precisely in the name of this inalienable dignity of the human person, we must firmly reject the temptation to take life under the pretext of false compassion. It is impossible to consider ending a life as normal. What is legal is not necessarily moral."

"You are not a burden; you are the beating heart of our humanity"

"You are not a burden; you are the beating heart of our humanity and a precious treasure for the Church," added the American pope, who described Lourdes as "the city of the sick and of hope."

According to the Catholic Church, there have been 72 miraculous healings in Lourdes.