Pope Francis wouldn’t make the short list of my favourite pontiffs, and he’d even struggle to get on the long one. Yet his homily at New Year’s Day Mass serves a powerful reminder of what it means to be a Christian in general and Catholic in particular.
One hopes it would also remind those holding different faiths or none of what it means to be a decent person. But, when it comes to killing by state, otherwise known as euthanasia or ‘assisted dying’, that hope is slim.
Priests are free to hold all sorts of political and cultural views, including, as most these days do, those I find objectionable. But any priest who supports that abomination should be summarily unfrocked, and I’d even go so far as to say that even lay Christians ought to be excommunicated if they see nothing wrong with euthanasia or, for that matter, abortion.
Some views are simply incompatible with Christianity, certainly its apostolic denominations. One can get away with having no respect for, say, private property or real music, but not for human life, which is only God’s to give or take away.
Congratulations to His Holiness for refusing to obfuscate that straightforward message with a smokescreen of qualifications and equivocations. He spoke forcefully about the urgent need to protect “the precious gift of life, life in the womb, the lives of children, the lives of the suffering, the poor, the elderly, the lonely and the dying.”
Unfortunately, he also called for “the elimination of the death penalty in all nations”, but hey, we can’t all be perfect. A valid argument can be made that the death penalty for murder upholds the sacred value of human life, rather than denying it. In any case, this is a separate conversation.
To his credit, the Pope has never been bashful about letting his views on abortion be widely known. At various times, he has referred to it as “murder”, akin to “hiring a hitman to solve a problem”, while describing pro-abortion laws as “homicidal”.
However, that ship has sailed, at least in Britain. As far as I know, even the mildest anti-abortion legislation isn’t even being mooted. But ‘assisted dying’ is a current issue: even though the relevant bill passed its second reading recently, it still isn’t a law.
It passed narrowly, which gives some hope for the future. In fact, 147 Labour MPs opposed it, along with most Tories and two out of five Reform MPs, including Nigel Farage. That three other Reformers supported the bill emphasises the difference between right-wing populism and conservatism, but again this dichotomy is for another day.
One of the most vociferous campaigners for the bill was TV presenter Dame Esther Rantzen, who is suffering from Stage 4 lung cancer. As a survivor of Stage 4 cancer myself, I sympathise with her plight, but not with her view on the state killing her — and eventually millions of others — by way of relief.
Her suffering touched a chord in what passes for Keir Starmer’s heart. Back in October, he said that he had “made a promise to Esther Rantzen before the election that we would provide time for a debate and a vote on assisted dying”.
That was one campaign promise Starmer has kept, which is more than one can say for a whole raft of other promises he has broken with blithe cynicism. Not only did he push that diabolical bill through two readings in Parliament, but he himself voted for it with so much enthusiasm that it was easy to get the impression he’d happily stick a needle into Dame Esther’s arm himself.
She should thank God he didn’t, and neither did anyone else. Had the bill become a law there and then, Dame Esther would probably no longer be with us. As it is, I for one was happy to read her announcement that “the new wonder drug I’m on” may hold back the spread of her cancer “for months, even years”.
If AstraZeneca’s Osimertinib can add so much time to Dame Esther’s life, it will make a powerful statement in favour of modern pharmacology – and a rational one against killing by state.
One of the requirements for doctors to kill a patient with impunity is that he is to have no more than six months left to live. This requirement is based on certain premises, all of them dubious.
First, doctors can seldom pinpoint the end of a life with any accuracy. I’ve known several people given months left to live who then went on to stick around for several more years. Doctors can make a mistake and so can medical science.
Second, this denies the possibility of a miracle, delivered either by God or, as in Dame Esther’s case, a pharmaceutical company or – most likely – both. Practical and theological arguments thus merge into one, delivering the kind of blow to the ‘assisted dying’ bill from which it would never recover in any decent country.
That the bill will likely become a law in Britain before long diminishes her claim to being a decent country. An essential qualification for this accolade is unwavering belief in the sanctity of human life – something demanded by God, Pope Francis, simple decency and even common sense.