Pope Leo XIV has condemned medically assisted dying, saying that the legalization of practices that intentionally cause death cannot be justified in the name of compassion.
Speaking during Mass at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes on Sunday, the pope said human dignity must remain protected even when people are living with severe illness or pain. He urged society to reject what he described as the “temptation to cause death under the guise of false compassion.”
“It is precisely in the name of this inalienable dignity of the human person that we must reject the temptation to cause death under the guise of false compassion,” Leo said, drawing applause from the crowd.
“What is legal is not necessarily moral,” he added.
The remarks came during the Pope’s four-day visit to France and at Lourdes, a major Catholic pilgrimage site particularly associated with the sick and disabled. Leo also visited a care center for sick people at the sanctuary, where he emphasized that illness and disability do not diminish a person’s dignity.
The Pope’s comments followed France’s recent adoption of legislation allowing certain adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal medication. The issue has been the subject of years of political and social debate in France.
Leo told those experiencing severe suffering that their condition does not diminish their dignity.
“Your crutches, your wheelchairs and your hidden tears are not obstacles; instead, they are the very place where you are fully respected and welcomed,” he said in his homily.
“Lourdes is blessed as a place for professing the beauty and sanctity of life, for life is welcomed here as a precious gift from God,” he added.
Leo’s position is consistent with established Catholic teaching, which opposes euthanasia and assisted suicide and calls for the protection of human life through natural death. Vatican teaching documents have likewise described euthanasia and assisted suicide as incompatible with the Church’s understanding of care for people in terminal or critical conditions.
