Bishop Guy Harpigny of Tournai in Belgium told a delegation from the German bishops’ conference that even a small change in German legislation against euthanasia will eventually lead to further widening of the law. He said that when euthanasia was legalised in Belgium in 2002 there were many limitations and restrictions. But over time, he said, euthanasia became more acceptable and the law was liberalised.
“Even euthanasia of minors has become possible. Euthanasia in Belgium is now an everyday matter that puts old and sick people often under subtle pressure.”
The German delegation was on a fact-finding visit to Belgium because euthanasia is being debated in the German Parliament. After the meeting, Bishop Gebhard Fürst, head of the delegation, said the German Catholic Church “must uphold all the more the principle that every fragile life is worth living and needs our special protection”.
Voting patterns of British Catholics
A pre-electoral poll commissioned by the Catholic weekly, The Tablet, showed that that close to half (48 per cent) of Catholics polled in Scotland said they were planning to vote for the Scottish National Party (SNP) compared with 38 per cent for Labour. Among those in Scotland who regard themselves as religious, 34 per cent said they would vote SNP, compared with 32 per cent for Labour and 22 per cent for the Conservatives. This shift in voter preferences contributed a lot to the rout of the Labour Party in Scotland as the majority of Catholic voters had always been Labour voters.
On the other hand, in Britain as a whole, of the 1,260 self-identifying Catholics polled – 41 per cent said they planned to vote Labour and 31 per cent Conservative. Though the majority of Catholics, once more, said that they would vote for the Labour Party, this is a majority that is decreasing. Voter surveys taken in 2005 found that 53 per cent of Catholics were Labour supporters.
The poll also reveals that 13 per cent Catholics said they were planning to vote for the UK Independence Party (UKIP). This is also a considerable increase over the last election.
Cardinal Turkson defends environment
Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, who worked on a first draft of Pope Francis’s upcoming encyclical on ecology, said that pride, greed and selfishness are destroying the planet just as they destroy human lives.
He added that Pope Francis is publishing the encyclical “not to enter into scientific and financial debates, but to remind the world that our choices are ultimately moral in nature”, including when it comes to safeguarding creation.
“This is an all-embracing moral imperative: to protect and care both for creation – our garden home – and for the human person who dwells therein,” the cardinal said. “Without stewardship, the earth will be less and less habitable,” he said. Without solidarity, “greed and rivalry will wreak ever greater havoc”.
Entrepreneurship and human development
A working paper published by the Fondazione Centesimus Annus Pro Pontefice will be discussed at a seminar on June 3 from 6 to 7.30pm at the Archbishop’s Seminary, Tal-Virtù, Rabat. The paper, entitled ‘A proposal for a reformed market economy’, was compiled after a number of international conventions held in response to Pope Francis’s statement: “‘Thou shalt not’ to an economy of exclusion and inequality – such an economy kills”.
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)