Catholic Bishops of France are "Deeply concerned about the consequences" of a "right to die" Following Passing of Euthanasia Bill

End of life: CEF reaction to the votes in the National Assembly this Tuesday, May 27, 2025
Published on May 27, 2025
The French Bishops' Conference (CEF) welcomes the vote on the bill on "support and palliative care"; it will closely monitor its implementation. It reiterates its deep concern regarding the vote on the law on the "right to assisted dying."

The CEF will continue to contribute to this major societal debate throughout the legislative process which will continue.

In continuing the work it initiated in September 2022, the CEF intends in particular to provide senators, and then again in a second reading to deputies, as well as to all French citizens, with any useful information to enable them to inform their discernment concerning this infinitely serious, complex and even intimidating subject of end-of-life support.

To do this, the Catholic Church relies in particular on the experience of the 800 chaplains and 1,500 volunteers present in hospitals, as well as the 5,000 visitors at home and in nursing homes, mobilized every day at the bedside of the sick, to which are added the thousands of priests, deacons, consecrated persons and lay people involved in accompanying the bereaved at funerals, in the 94 dioceses that the Church has in France.

Deeply concerned about the consequences for French society and the alarming prospects to which a "right to die" would expose, in particular, the most vulnerable French people, the bishops reaffirm their determination to speak out for a just and fraternal society, which protects the most vulnerable; and reiterate their full support for the Claeys-Leonetti law of 2016, currently in force but still largely unenforced, with more than 20% of French departments lacking palliative care (i.e. 1/5).

Finally, the CEF wishes to send a message of support to the countless caregivers, psychologists, psychiatrists and psychotherapists, ethicists, lawyers, senior civil servants, and so many other civil society actors, who have been speaking out for more than two and a half years now against a legislative text that would profoundly undermine the social pact and the French healthcare model, which until now have been praised and recognized throughout the world.

Source : Bishops of France - https://eglise.catholique.fr/espace-presse/communiques-de-presse/564181-fin-de-vie-reaction-de-la-cef-aux-votes-a-lassemblee-nationale-de-ce-mardi-27-mai-2025/