'May doctors never dispense death': Archbishop reacts to euthanasia proposals

Archbishop Charles Scicluna has responded to the government's proposals on voluntary euthanasia by saying that health professionals should never "dispense death".

Under proposals released for public consultation on Wednesday afternoon, terminally ill patients with less than six months to live could be allowed to voluntarily end their lives 

Writing on X, Scicluna said that death and dying should be accompanied by a culture of compassionate care. 

"May our health professionals always be servants of life with dignity, never dispensers of death. A big YES to Palliative Care up to our natural end," he wrote.

Scicluna has consistently opposed euthanasia as debate around the topic has opened up in the last few years. In a letter sent to members of parliament in 2016, co-written by then-bishop of Gozo Mario Grech, the Archbishop told MPs that any act that terminated life or accelerated death had to remain outlawed.

The bishops had said that although they understood the suffering of those who were terminally ill and their relatives, euthanasia was “not a question of freedom of choice”.

In a press conference on the proposals for 'Assisted Voluntary Euthanasia', Reforms Parliamentary Secretary Rebecca Buttigieg insisted the government was not proposing a bill yet.

Rather, it is launching a two-month, public discussion on the sensitive subject to understand whether people would want the option to terminate their life “in dignity” if they find themselves in that situation.

She outlined a set of principles on which any law would be based, including that it would only be allowed in cases where a patient is terminally ill and has been given less than six months to live. 

“This is not an easy topic to speak about, but it would be irresponsible to act as if this issue does not exist,” she said.

Buttigieg hoped for a “mature” discussion where people would have access to the proper facts and not turn the discussion into a partisan dispute.