A Catholic deacon has gone on trial in Belgium accused of killing at least 10 people, including his own mother.
Deacon Ivo Poppe, 61, is a former nurse who is suspected of injecting air into some of his victims’ veins to kill them.
The married father of three, dubbed the “deacon of death” by Belgian media, is accused of murdering his mother, father-in-law, two other relatives and various patients during his three decades in the nursing profession.
Although he is formally charged with 10 murders, a criminal inquiry has established a list of 50 suspicious deaths during his time at a clinic in the town of Menen.
If convicted, Poppe would be one of the worst serial killers in Belgian history.
Poppe was arrested in 2014 after telling a psychiatrist he “actively euthanised” dozens of people. He told an inquiry he acted “out of compassion” to end suffering, but he has since retracted this statement.
Belgium legalised euthanasia in 2002. Since then, ministry of health data shows euthanasia-related deaths rising by 27 per cent annually.
The Church has raised concerns that the law is being abused to kill people without consent, and strongly criticised the office regulating the practice for being ineffective.
The Belgian Church’s Cathobel news agency published an article at the start of the year saying the Federal Euthanasia Control and Evaluation Commission failed to refer suspected legal abuses for investigation. “It’s shocking that 15 years since its creation, this commission has not referred a single file to prosecutors or condemned a single doctor,” the report said.
“It is acting as judge and jury, and not fulfilling its role. It isn’t broadening application of the law, but violating it.”
• A Dutch euthanasia regulator has quit her post in protest at the killing of patients suffering from dementia. Berna van Baarsen, a medical ethicist, said she could not support “a major shift” in the interpretation of the law to endorse lethal injections for increasing numbers of dementia patients.
She has now resigned from one of the Netherlands’ five regional assessment committees set up to oversee euthanasia provision.
She told Medisch Contact that lethal injections were increasingly given to patients with fluctuating capacity, leading to a four-fold rise in euthanasia deaths of mental health patients in five years.
Catholics obliged to fast on Valentine’s Day, says diocese
Catholics are obliged to practise fasting and abstinence on St Valentine’s Day as Ash Wednesday falls on the same day, an archdiocese has said.
The Archdiocese of Chicago said it had received enquiries as to whether Catholics could have a dispensation from their Ash Wednesday obligations so they could mark Valentine’s Day.
But the archdiocese responded that, as Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent, “the obligation of fast and abstinence must naturally be the priority of the Catholic community.
The archdiocese explained: “Catholics throughout the world recognise Ash Wednesday as the solemn beginning of a period of prayerful reflection and penance, as is evident by the large number of church-goers on this day.”
The statement suggested that Catholics could celebrate Valentine’s Day the day before, on Shrove Tuesday, or at Mardi Gras – “a traditionally festive time”.
Under Church rules, every Catholic in good health aged 18 to 59 must fast and abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday. They may eat one full meal, supplemented by two smaller meals that together do not equal a full meal. Ash Wednesday last fell on February 14 in 1945.
Pope’s favourite icon restored
The Pope’s favourite Marian icon has received a makeover.
The Salus populi Romani (“health of the Roman people”), located inside the St Mary Major Basilica, receives frequent visits from Pope Francis and is revered by Romans.
Barbara Jatta, Vatican Museums director, said the restoration uncovered the “delicate” colours of the faces of Mary and Jesus. She said the work suggested the icon was painted between the 11th and 13th centuries.
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