Pro-lifers disagree with Italian moral theologian on assisted suicide

In the Jesuit journal "Civiltà Cattolica", Casalone called for the present draft law on liberalisation not to be rejected, German Catholic website katholisch.de wrote earlier this month. According to the moral theologian, the draft "does not recognise the right to suicide, but the possibility of asking for help in carrying out the suicide under certain conditions". Casalone referred to a which regulates living wills, the so-called Law 219/2017.

A failure of the draft would be "another blow to the credibility of the institutions at an already critical moment", Casalone added. Even when values that are difficult to reconcile clash, legal regulation is constitutionally required and makes sense, according to the moral theologian.

Reaction

In reaction to Casalone's article, some 60 pro-life associations take a stand in the Italian magazine "Il Timone", German newspaper Die Tagespost reports. It is "astonishing that a publication understood as an 'echo of the Church's magisterium' risks taking positions that are perhaps indirectly part of the 'throwaway culture' whose negative effects Pope Francis repeatedly denounces", the article reads.

Surprisingly, the article continues, Father Casalone does not judge the bill as a "euthanasia text", "although every single norm goes in that direction, including the one that states, in case of refusal by the doctor and the competent committee, that the judge can still rule in favour of death". Furthermore, they stress that the impression of giving in to a possible referendum should be avoided, "even more so before the Constitutional Court has decided on its admissibility".

Not the first time

In recent years, the author has repeatedly published relevant articles in Civiltà Cattolica and has spoken out favouring "self-determination in the context of 'therapeutic exaggeration'". Although it contains several problematic and ambiguous elements, Law 219/2017 allows different positions to be reconciled, Casalone said. In his view, it "confirms the difference, both ethical and legal, between 'letting die' and 'killing'" and makes it possible to distinguish the "threshold" between one and the other.

In 2019, the Italian Constitutional Court asked the Parliament to create a corresponding legal regulation. On 13 December, Italy's Parliament debated a bill on "medically assisted voluntary suicide".