PARIS, Sept 25 (Reuters) – Pope Leo firmly reiterated the Catholic Church’s opposition to assisted dying initiatives on Friday during his visit to France, two months the country created a legal right to die for those with incurable illnesses after years of intense debate.
The first US pope did not specifically mention France’s new law, which drew heated opposition from local Catholic bishops, but criticized what he called “profit-driven ventures” such as surrogacy and assisted dying laws in a speech at the Elysee.
“I firmly reiterate that the protection of the right to life constitutes the indispensable foundation of every other human right,” the pope said in address to French President Emanuel Macron and other politicians.
“I am concerned at times by those trends in society that risk turning science and technology into profit-driven ventures promoting genetic manipulation, surrogacy, the trade in human organs or the possibility of arranging one’s own death,” he said.
The practice of surrogacy is banned in France, though the country’s top court has ruled that children born via surrogacy abroad should be recognised in France as the children of their intended parents.
(Reporting by Joshua McElwee and Elizabeth Pineau in Paris; Editing by Makini Brice)
