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Death of Catholic former Dutch prime minister highlights ‘duo euthanasia’ trend in Netherlands

February 21, 2024

At the start of February both Dries van Agt, a Catholic former Dutch prime minister, and his wife chose to die together through euthanasia. Married for 70 years, both Van Agt and his wife, Eugenie, were ill and 93 years old at the time of theirs deaths that are part of a small but growing

As with the Sexual Revolution, we must heed ‘slippery slope’ warnings about assisted suicide

January 16, 2024

There are determined moves to make assisted suicide legal in both the UK and in Ireland. In advance of any legal decision, the Irish Medical Council has removed the ban on participating in the “deliberate killing” of patients from its medical guidelines. In the UK, the Parliamentary Health and Social Care Committee has been taking

At a time when we should be celebrating life, others are lobbying for death

December 23, 2023

Pope St John Paul II once remarked that in our celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ we bear witness that every human is “somebody unique and unrepeatable…somebody thought of and chosen from eternity”. For most of us, Christmas is a time to give thanks for life – we cherish our loved ones and look

Canada’s bishops ‘urgently’ trying to counter State euthanasia expansion

December 14, 2023

Facing an imminent expansion of Canada’s assisted suicide law to make people suffering from mental illness eligible, the nation’s Catholic bishops are calling on healthcare providers to invest more in mental health resources to get people the help they need. “With the threat of [assisted suicide] becoming available to Canadians whose sole medical condition is

Canada’s hellish euthanasia laws

November 24, 2022

Does life have no value anymore? asks Simon Caldwell For a language which to the English ear occasionally sounds guttural, German also contains a few words as musical as they are useful. Think of Doppelgänger or Schadenfreude. Words such as these tend to creep into the English language when we lack an equivalent to convey the meaning so

Pope’s pilgrimage to Canada: why mystery surrounds the graves

August 10, 2022

Any question raised about the mass graves involving indigenous people in Canada immediately generates the accusation of someone being an apologist for the Catholic Church and what it did, or worse, a racist and imperialist. To be clear, the Catholic Church did operate schools and there is no denying abuses took place. It was therefore

Pope’s visit won’t reverse collapse of Canadian Catholicism

July 28, 2022

Pope Francis arrived in Quebec on Wednesday as part of his pilgrimage of penance, atoning for the sins of the Catholic Church against indigenous Canadians, around 37 per cent of whom remain Catholic. But the visit is unlikely to reverse a huge decline of the Catholic faith in the North American country – not least

Will a future Pope have to undertake a pilgrimage of penance to China?

July 27, 2022

Even as Pope Francis is undertakes a pilgrimage of penance across Canada – apologising for past atrocities committed by Catholic clergy against indigenous peoples – he has indicated the Vatican’s deal with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a regime known for its brutality and repression, will be renewed once more. Coming just after reports that