Archbishop Paglia says priests can be present at assisted suicide

[Chrystal-J]

Vatican City, Dec 11, 2019 / 04:08 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said Tuesday that he would be willing to hold the hand of someone dying from assisted suicide, and that he does not see that as lending implicit support for the practice.

Paglia spoke at a Dec. 10 press conference preceding a two-day symposium on palliative care, being sponsored by the Pontifical Academy for Life and the WISH initiative, part of the Qatar Foundation.

Answering a question about assisted suicide and whether a Catholic or a Catholic priest can be present at someone’s death by assisted suicide, Paglia told a small group of journalists that he would be willing to do so, because “the Lord never abandons anyone.”

Link: Archbishop Paglia says priests can be present at assisted suicide

 

[chevyontheriver]

Vatican City, Dec 11, 2019 / 04:08 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said Tuesday that he would be willing to hold the hand of someone dying from assisted suicide, and that he does not see that as lending implicit support for the practice.

Paglia spoke at a Dec. 10 press conference preceding a two-day symposium on palliative care, being sponsored by the Pontifical Academy for Life and the WISH initiative, part of the Qatar Foundation.

Answering a question about assisted suicide and whether a Catholic or a Catholic priest can be present at someone’s death by assisted suicide, Paglia told a small group of journalists that he would be willing to do so, because “the Lord never abandons anyone.”

Link: Archbishop Paglia says priests can be present at assisted suicide

Can a priest be present at an execution?

I would think a priest at an assisted suicide would be a tacit approval of the assisted suicide, a tacit approval of sin. At least in an execution the victim has no choice in the matter, and has the possibility of dying reconciled to God. In an assisted suicide everything is deliberate, including rejecting reconciliation with God.

The only value in having a priest there would be to change the mind of the person killing themselves before it's too late.

 

[Michie]

I saw this last night and I read that the priest could not be present at an execution or someone being euthanized. So I am not sure what this priest is talking about.

 

[Michie]

Vatican City, Dec 11, 2019 / 04:08 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said Tuesday that he would be willing to hold the hand of someone dying from assisted suicide, and that he does not see that as lending implicit support for the practice.

Paglia spoke at a Dec. 10 press conference preceding a two-day symposium on palliative care, being sponsored by the Pontifical Academy for Life and the WISH initiative, part of the Qatar Foundation.

Answering a question about assisted suicide and whether a Catholic or a Catholic priest can be present at someone’s death by assisted suicide, Paglia told a small group of journalists that he would be willing to do so, because “the Lord never abandons anyone.”

Link: Archbishop Paglia says priests can be present at assisted suicide

Have you seen this Chrystal?
Vatican Archbishop: those who say Judas is in hell are ‘heretics’ and priests may ‘accompany’ assisted suicides

 

[chevyontheriver]

Have you seen this Chrystal?
Vatican Archbishop: those who say Judas is in hell are ‘heretics’ and priests may ‘accompany’ assisted suicides

Can I face palm again?

We don't know Judas is in hell, but saying one is a heretic for believing Judas is in hell is too far. It's like saying someone who says Judas is damned is actually damned for saying so. Incongruent in the extreme.

 

[Chrystal-J]

Have you seen this Chrystal?
Vatican Archbishop: those who say Judas is in hell are ‘heretics’ and priests may ‘accompany’ assisted suicides

I agree with this (from the article): The 30-page document of the Swiss Bishops, titled “Pastoral behavior with regard to the practice of assisted suicide,” comes in response to increasing rates of assisted suicide in Switzerland. It states that assisted suicide “is radically against the Gospel message” and its practice “is a serious attack on the preservation of the life of the human person that must be protected from conception until natural death.”

 

[Chrystal-J]

Can a priest be present at an execution?

I would think a priest at an assisted suicide would be a tacit approval of the assisted suicide, a tacit approval of sin. At least in an execution the victim has no choice in the matter, and has the possibility of dying reconciled to God. In an assisted suicide everything is deliberate, including rejecting reconciliation with God.

The only value in having a priest there would be to change the mind of the person killing themselves before it's too late.

I'm watching EWTN right now and they're talking about this topic. They basically said what you said. The priest said "I wouldn't hold someone's hand while they shot or hung themselves." And then he went on to talk about redemptive suffering.

 

[football5680]

Can I face palm again?

We don't know Judas is in hell, but saying one is a heretic for believing Judas is in hell is too far. It's like saying someone who says Judas is damned is actually damned for saying so. Incongruent in the extreme.

It definitely goes too far given the fact that the Biblical evidence actually supports the belief that Judas is in hell.

"The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” (Matthew 26:24)

We shouldn't presume to know how God will judge other people, but Judas is an exception to this rule since God has revealed this knowledge to us in the Bible. I don't see any way to reconcile this verse without coming to the conclusion that Judas is in hell, or that going to Heaven is actually worse than simply not existing and if this were the case, then it would have been better if none of us was ever born.

 

[Michie]

Dutch cardinal: It would be a ‘scandal’ for a priest to be present at an assisted suicide

 

[Michie]

Dominican theologian: ‘I will not accompany you while you hang yourself’

 

[chevyontheriver]

Dutch cardinal: It would be a ‘scandal’ for a priest to be present at an assisted suicide

I think archbishop Paglia is just venting his own hot air. Good that other Catholics feel they can point out that he's wrong.

 

[Michie]

Theologian corrects Vatican archbishop who said priests could ‘accompany’ assisted suicide victims

 

[Michie]

Archbishop Paglia’s grave error | Catholic Herald