Pope Francis met with a group of surgeons and dentists in the Vatican.
The president of this federation of medical providers greeted the pope.
The pope delivered a powerful message reminding the group that “medicine, by definition, is at the service of human life.” He asked them to remember their own humanity when treating each patient. He asked them to recognize each patient’s dignity, especially in more serious cases.
POPE FRANCIS
“With this attitude one can and must reject the temptation - induced also by legislative changes - to use medicine to carry out a possible death-wish of the patient, providing assistance for suicide or directly causing death with euthanasia.”
The pope insisted that it is duplicitous to justify euthanasia by calling it the “exercise of personal freedom.”
POPE FRANCIS
“These erroneous paths are taken when making a decision that is not, in fact, an expression of personal liberty. These decisions are flawed when they permit of a patient or when they involve the false compassion of speeding up a patient’s death.”
Pope Francis asked the group to never forget the Hippocratic Oath’s ethical standards, to respect human life and its sanctity.
