Voluntary euthanasia is an affront to human dignity and so-called safeguards are anything but, said the Maltese Episcopal Conference in a letter that was read across the country this past weekend.
The letter, titled “Compassion and Care Until the End," was authored on May 31 and was published on June 4. It was written in response to the Maltese government's recent White Paper concerning the legality of assisted suicide in the country.
The Maltese Episcopal Conference consists of Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, Bishop Anton Teuma of Gozo, and Bishop Joseph Galea-Curmi, auxiliary bishop of Malta.
The White Paper proposed allowing Maltese residents who are over the age of 18 and have a terminal diagnosis "to end their own lives with the assistance of medical professionals, either in hospital or at home."
Unacceptable
This, said the bishops, is unacceptable, and is rife with the potential for abuse.
"Proponents of the White Paper claim that the process contains various 'safeguards' to limit who can receive this lethal concoction as well as to protect against coercion by family members and third parties," said the bishops.
"However, we know from the experience of other countries that, over time, these safeguards are eventually eroded, and more and more people end their lives for one reason or another."
Suicide is a tragedy, and should never be encouraged, they said.
"Someone considering ending his or her life should not receive from the State the assistance to commit suicide, but rather, they should receive the support to live with dignity, surrounded by love and care," said the letter.
Instead of euthanasia, those who are approaching the end of their lives should be offered palliative care and accompaniment, said the bishops.
Real compassion
Palliative care, which the bishops defined as "medical care to relieve pain, but also psychological, social and spiritual support," is a "genuine form of compassion."
"In this sense, it is appropriate to use medicine to ease the suffering of those in critical condition, and to administer this not with the intention of causing death, but to relieve pain, even if, as a consequence, life may be shortened," said the bishops.
A person who is suffering, said the bishops, should be shown compassion.
"In us, they should find empathy, closeness, great care, support and the necessary palliative care."
"We must accompany these people with love, not abandon them, and give them all the help they need in the difficult and trying circumstances in which they find themselves," said the letter. "We must never, in any way, make them feel that it would be better if they ended their life."
