The defence of life in all its
expressions is an issue for Catholics said Vatican Secretary of
State Cardinal Pietro Parolin after the regional council in his
native Veneto rejected a bill regulating medically assisted
suicide for terminally ill patients despite it having the
backing of centre-right governor Luca Zaia.
The defence of life is an issue of ours," said Parolin.
"Life must be defended in all its stages, dimensions, and
expressions: from its natural beginning to its natural end," he
added.
On Tuesday Veneto regional council rejected a bill presented by
the right-to-die Coscioni association after two of the five
articles failed to receive the necessary absolute majority in
order to pass.
The legislative proposal, which sought to regulate the direct
involvement of the national health service in assisted suicide
on the basis of a 2019 ruling by the Constitutional Court,
divided the centre-right majority in the region, with Premier
Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy (FdI) and Forza Italia voting
against and part of the League including Governor Zaia in
favour, along with the opposition.
"I am sorry that some misinterpreted the proposal discussed in
Veneto as 'instituting the end of life'," said Zaia after the
vote.
"It did not institute anything, but rather only established the
means and timeframe of response to the sick, and the way in
which the local health authorities were to be involved," he
added.
However, Zaia said even though the law didn't pass "terminally
ill patients with certain characteristics know that they can
still present their requests for (medically assisted suicide),
based on the ruling of the Constitutional Court", named after
right-to-die campaigner Marco Cappato making assisted suicide
permissible in some circumstances.
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