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CV NEWS FEED // Catholic Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Vincent Nichols this week denounced the United Kingdom Parliament’s approach to considering a pro-assisted suicide bill, which Members of Parliament (MPs) voted to advance toward legalization in November 2024 after a mere few hours of debate.
“I believe it is deeply irresponsible of any government to allow a change of this magnitude to be carried out without due, proper, government-supported parliamentary process,” Cardinal Nichols told news group Christian Fellowship, according to a Feb. 5 Westminster Diocese article. “I think what’s happening, if it came to pass, would be the biggest change that this country has seen for many, many decades at least, probably more. On the back of what — five, six, seven hours’ debate?”
In 2004, Parliament spent 700 hours debating a bill to prohibit hunting of most wildlife in the UK, the Cardinal noted.
On Feb. 4, two dozen psychiatry professionals also expressed concern about the “haste” with which Parliament is considering the assisted suicide bill, which, they said, ultimately “should be overwhelmingly rejected.”
“A law on doctor-assisted suicide will undermine the daily efforts of psychiatrists across the United Kingdom to prevent suicide,” the signatories wrote in a letter to The Times. “Those who have suicidal thoughts at any time in life may be vulnerable to pressures to take their own life by the introduction of doctor-assisted suicide.”
In a 330-275 vote in November 2024, MPs advanced the “Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill,” allowing the legislation, which was originally proposed by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, to move to a committee stage. According to the International Bar Association, if it continues to advance, it must go through the House of Lords and back to the House of Commons before being fully passed.
“I hope the bill will be defeated as it makes its way through the Houses of Parliament,” Cardinal Nichols said in a Feb. 5 X post. “I don’t think the story is over yet.”
Leading up to the first major vote in November, Cardinal Nichols was among the Catholic spiritual leaders in the UK who repeatedly spoke out against the bill, emphasizing that human life is sacred and a gift from God and urging citizens to contact their MPs about their concerns and opposition to the bill.
“We already hear of a social duty to end our lives when we become a burden to others. This is not the kind of society in which we would wish to grow old or become vulnerable,” Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury wrote in an October 2024 pastoral letter. “If medical professionals, now sworn to protect the lives of patients, become those who assist in killing and suicide, how will our relationship change to those we look to for help and care?”
