Shrewsbury bishop to use Christmas homily to warn against moves to relax assisted dying laws
Shrewsbury's Catholic Bishop will use his Christmas homily to warn against efforts to relax the law on assisted dying.
The Rev Mark Davies will deliver the message at Midnight Mass, arguing against a "deadly agenda" he says is at odds with Christian moral inheritance.
The issue, which has sparked continuing debate in recent years, has been the subject of renewed public discussion in the past week after Dame Esther Rantzen said she had joined the assisted dying clinic, Dignitas, in Switzerland.
The Childline founder and broadcaster is currently undergoing treatment for stage four lung cancer.
In his homily Bishop Davies will say he believes it is wrong to use the Christmas period to lobby for changes in the law, and will argue that the concept of assisted dying sits at odds with Christian values.
Dame Esther had said her decision was driven in part by her wish that her family's "last memories of me" are not "painful because if you watch someone you love having a bad death, that memory obliterates all the happy times".
But addressing the Midnight Mass, Bishop Davies will say: “Truths we might too easily take for granted are recalled to every mind and heart by these festive days: the value of every human life; the innate dignity of every human being; compassion for the weakest; peace between men and the charity that we owe to each other.
“These are values and moral imperatives which were alien and unthinkable to the ancient mind but which we trace back to the cradle of Christ’s dawning light.
“Each generation passes through its own dark shadows to return constantly to his light. It seems especially sinister that the euthanasia lobby should choose this moment of the year to advance its deadly agenda and even use the Christian imperatives of 'compassion' and 'mercy' to speak of medical killing.
“Christianity led us to care for the weakest and most vulnerable, euthanasia proposes a new morality where the light of Christ no longer guides us.”
Dame Esther's statement has led to activists and some politicians suggesting that the 1961 Suicide Act, under which assisted suicide may be punished by up to 14 years in jail, should be abolished or amended so doctors can assist in the suicides of some of their patients without fear of prosecution.
She had said that if she were to go ahead then it would put her family and friends at risk of prosecution because they would want to go with her.
Cabinet Ministers Michael Gove and Mel Stride have suggested that the law should be revisited by the House of Commons, while Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer indicated that he may permit parliamentary time for a so-called “assisted dying” Bill to be debated.
Sir Keir said personally be believed “there are grounds for changing the law”.
