
“Helping in assisted suicide, the doctor cooperates with the patient’s will, and this means he shares the patient’s intention,” the cardinal noted. “For this reason, even mere cooperation is an intrinsically evil act, as grave as if the doctor personally ended the life of the patient.”
Eijk also reiterated Church teaching on funerals for Catholics who choose euthanasia or assisted suicide.
Abp. Vincenzo Paglia (CNS/Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters)
“If a patient asks the priest to administer him the sacraments (confession or anointing of the sick) and plans a funeral before the doctor ends his life upon his request or he commits suicide, the priest cannot do so,” he said, for three reasons.
First, “a person can receive the sacraments only when he is in a good disposition, and this is not the case when a person wants to oppose the order of creation, violating the intrinsic value of his life.”
Second, the person who “receives the sacraments puts his life in the merciful hands of God. However, [he] who wants to personally end his life wants to take his life in his hands.”
Third, “if the priest administers the sacraments or plans a funeral in these cases, the priest is guilty of a scandal, since his actions might suggest that suicide or euthanasia are permitted in certain circumstances.”
Source Article: https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/dutch-cardinal-euthanasia-assisted-suicide-grave-sin
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