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In a decision announced on July 2, 2025, the Catholic Trust of England and Wales has confirmed the closure of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre in Oxford.
The Centre will cease operations on July 31, ending nearly five decades of Catholic leadership in moral and medical ethics.
Founded in 1977, the Centre is the United Kingdom’s oldest institution dedicated to bioethical research.
Known for its rigorous work on issues ranging from end-of-life care to vaccine policy, the Centre has served both the Church and the broader public in navigating complex ethical questions.
Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney once called it “not just the premier Christian bioethics institute in Britain, but one of the finest in the world, Christian or secular.”
In his article for Crux, Charles Collins quotes Professor David Albert Jones, the Centre’s director, who expressed “immense sadness” over the closure. He said the decision was not a reflection of the Centre’s work, but rather the result of financial constraints imposed by its trustee.
“It is the earnest hope of staff at the Centre that some means may be found to continue to make available the resources that the Centre has generated, and also to continue the vital work of bioethical research and education that fully respects the dignity of the human person,” he said in a public statement.
Over the past year, the Centre has been a key voice in debates surrounding the push to legalize assisted suicide in Scotland and in England and Wales. It has also spoken out in the various highly publicized cases of children who were sick and seeking treatment outside of the UK, but not allowed to do so.
Great loss
Jones noted that the Centre’s research had been cited in Parliament and used by those advocating for vulnerable people who may be at risk under proposed laws.
“While the Centre will no longer be in a position to provide new resources, we urge people to make use of the resources we have already made available and to engage with the Scottish Parliament and with the House of Lords as these bodies continue to debate dangerous and ill-thought-out legislation,” he said.
The announcement also comes amid a renewed emphasis from Pope Leo XIV on human dignity in the face of new social and technological pressures.
Since his election, the Pope has repeatedly highlighted the Church’s responsibility to defend the most vulnerable — not only in debates over migration and poverty, but also in the ethical frontiers of artificial intelligence and biomedicine.
Echoing the legacy of Pope Leo XIII, he has warned that technological progress must never come at the expense of human worth, especially when it concerns the elderly, the sick, or the unborn.
The Church in Britain is now losing one of its most experienced and credible champions in these areas. The work may continue in new forms, but the loss of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre is deeply felt.
