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A UK Catholic bishop voiced harsh criticism of the recent British Parliament vote, which passed the Terminally Ill (End of Life) Bill to the next stage of its legislative journey. He was so perturbed with the bill’s passage that he went so far as to state: “Britain is no longer a Christian country.”
Bishop Philip Egan previously released a pastoral letter to warn the faithful about the bill, back in October.
Titled “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” the letter summarized assisted suicide measures into one idea: that it is simply helping someone kill themselves. He cautioned against the passage of the bill, comparing it to the use of nuclear weapons: “once deployed, it’s too late; there’s only escalation.”
The letter next offered four secular reasons to oppose euthanasia legislation, with the first being that the option of suicide places an “intolerable pressure” on the sick, elderly, and the dying. He suggested that those in such a position may choose to end their own lives due to financial concerns or to not be a burden on their families.
“They might start thinking ‘It would be best to die.’ In other words, the right to die inescapably becomes a pressure to die and then a duty to die,” Bishop Egan wrote.
Secondly, the bishop cautioned that to promote euthanasia is to undermine palliative care and the role of care-homes. He mused that killing someone promptly is “cheaper, more efficient, and far less trouble,” than to care for them in their final days.
Doctors oppose it
Next he turned his attention to the medical staffers who would be bound to the burden of ending lives, which is contrary to the oath they have taken -- to save lives. He wrote that it would not only undermine the public’s trust in medical professionals, but it would also make them accessories to killings. Furthermore, difficult cases would inevitably wind up in the court system, leaving lawyers and judges to make decisions better made by family and doctors:
“No wonder this legislation is opposed by more than eight out of 10 doctors and palliative care specialists. It’s easy to imagine a future in which doctors advise patients to seek suicide rather than treatment,” Bishop Egan wrote.
Finally, he expressed his fear that the UK would follow down the same slippery slope that other nations have experienced since passing euthanasia laws: that the practice continues to be expanded as the years go by:
“If the legislation is passed, even with the strictest limits for now, the thresholds of eligibility will keep creeping forward to cover ever more categories of persons such as the mentally ill, those with depression or dementia, the severely disabled, sick babies and so on. There are no limits, and fixed safeguards are unworkable.”
The letter was released roughly a month before the British Parliament held their vote, which passed on to the House of Commons with 330 in favor and 275 opposed, on November 29, 2024.
Just days later, Bishop Egan addressed the faithful again, this time via an E-News roundup for the Diocese of Portsmouth. In this much shorter message, he called the bill’s passage a “bad move” and reiterated some of the points he had made in his pastoral letter.
He suggested that this departure from traditional Christian values long held by England and Wales means that “Britain is no longer a Christian country,” and he warned that being a Christian under assisted suicide laws will become more difficult in the near future:
“More and more, as in ages past, we will stand out from the crowd and from others in our society who see human life, its dignity and value, in a radically different way. It is my hope that God will give us the grace to live our discipleship ever more authentically so that the true beauty of our Catholic faith might become even more evident.”
Pray earnestly, work tirelessly
He urged the faithful to “pray earnestly, and to work tirelessly” in order to limit the law’s reach and ensure that medical workers of faith are not forced to participate in the practice. Alongside prayers, he requested that the faithful write to their representative MP and voice their displeasure at the passage of the Terminally Ill Bill.
“I pray that the splendor veritatis, the beauty of the Truth, the hope it gives, especially to the vulnerable, and the Gospel vision of the human person -- fallen but redeemed, an incarnate spirit called to live a good life here on earth and one day to be with God for ever in Paradise – will shine out for all to see,” Bishop Egan concluded.
