French bishops urge Catholic hospitals to prepare to refuse euthanasia

The bishops of France told Catholic healthcare institutions to act now so they can refuse to carry out euthanasia and assisted suicide, as a new law is expected to permit from January 2027.

In a letter issued Nov. 8 at the close of their autumn plenary assembly in Lourdes, the bishops explained it was “urgent” for the institutions to update their charters, statutes, and internal rules.

The National Assembly passed the law on July 15. On Aug. 14 the Constitutional Council upheld it with three interpretive reservations, one allowing health institutions not to provide “aid in dying” when it is contrary to their statutes or mission.

To explain the urgency of the matter, the French prelates pointed to a precedent in Belgium: A clause in its 2002 euthanasia law was removed in 2020 partly over claims it had been poorly managed. “This point must therefore be handled with rigor and competence,” they wrote.

The French bishops recalled Pope Leo XIV’s words in Lourdes during his September visit to France: “It is impossible to consider giving death as normal. What is legal is not necessarily moral.” A doctrinal and pastoral document for healthcare leaders, caregivers, and chaplains will follow in 2027, they said.

The Nov. 3–8 meeting was the bishops’ first since the papal visit. In a message read at the opening, Leo asked them to reflect on their “pastoral fruits” and to keep accompanying victims of sexual violence and coercive control.

According to the assembly’s closing summary, the bishops approved a scheme to accompany people abused as adults by diocesan clergy, to be implemented in the first quarter of 2027. Leaders of Iniave, the body that took over from the Inirr reparation body on Sept. 1, briefed them on its work.

Looking to next year’s presidential election, the bishops presented a plan of statements, gestures, and visits to “significant places” throughout the 2027 presidential election campaign. The Church wants to contribute “without giving voting instructions,” a Nov. 4 press briefing summary said.

About 80 diocesan directors of Catholic education joined the bishops for a day the conference called “unprecedented and historic.”

Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille, the conference president, said Nov. 6 that he sensed a “thirst for meaning” and for “deep justice” in French society after weeks of demonstrations and violence. In his closing homily, he said society needs “the oil of encounter” to “talk, discuss, and debate, respecting differences and rejecting violence.”