Originally published at National Catholic Register
EDITORIAL: Experts stress that those who seek to end their lives this way generally do so because they feel abandoned by other human beings, not because of their illnesses.
The latest Western nation poised to deepen its embrace of the culture of death is the United Kingdom, where legislation facilitating assisted suicide is being moved forward in Parliament.
As in other places where this has happened, the local Catholic Church is confronted with a pressing question: How should the faithful respond to forestall this dreadful action?
The most immediate need is to communicate what’s really happening with assisted suicide and why it’s so wrong.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, has eloquently done this, via a pastoral letter he released ahead of the proposed legislation’s formal introduction.
The cardinal’s letter delivers three vital warnings. The first is to “be careful what you wish for,” referencing the slippery slope that inevitably arises when assisted suicide becomes legal. While the initial U.K. legislation might seem relatively moderate, and “assurances will be given that the proposed safeguards are firm and reliable,” Cardinal Nichols notes that what is proposed now “will
