Pope Benedict says that those suffering from debilitating illnesses must not seek the easy way out but to die “at the hour chosen by God.”
People must accept death at “the hour chosen by God,” Pope Benedict XVI told ailing pilgrims Monday in an anti-euthanasia message at Lourdes, the shrine that draws the desperate, sick and dying.
At the chilly open-air service outside the sanctuary reputed for its curative spring water, some faithful lay on gurneys, tucked into quilts and comforters. A few breathed with oxygen tanks. The 81-year-old pontiff administered the sacrament of the sick to 10 people, most in wheelchairs, gently anointing their foreheads and palms with oil.
While several European countries permit euthanasia, the Vatican vehemently maintains that life must continue to its natural end. The pope said in his homily that the ill should pray to find “the grace to accept, without fear or bitterness, to leave this world at the hour chosen by God.”
Presumably, this only applies to taking measures to hasten death rather than to postpone it. It’s not clear to me why this should be the case, however. If the point is to die “at the hour chosen by God,” wouldn’t that preclude medical treatment of any kind? If not, why not?
