Switzerland: Bishop Huonder Recalls the Doctrine of the Church on “Assisted Suicide”

Fuente: FSSPX News

Bishop Vitus Huonder.

For the “World Day for Human Rights” held on December 10, 2016, Bishop Vitus Huonder recalled the Church’s doctrine on suicide.

In an open letter published on December 4, the bishop of Chur stated that is impossible for a person making use of “assisted suicide” to receive Extreme Unction. The prelate wrote that “it is not for us to decide on life or death. God takes care of our life. God takes care of our death.”

He pointed out that “a patient’s desire to have an assisted suicide makes it completely impossible for the priest to administer to him the anointing of the sick.” For in these circumstances, “the conditions for receiving (the sacrament) are not fulfilled.” So the priest can “only pray for him” and “recommend him to God’s mercy”.

As far as palliative treatment goes, Bishop Huonder explained that the medical care must be conducted with “particular discernment”. The goal is “not to affect the natural process of death, for it is also the expression of the creative will of God.”

Dignitas, an association for assisted suicide, reacted to the bishop of Chur’s letter in a press release on December 6. Referring to the title of the bishop’s text “Dying Humanly in the Light of the Faith”, the association claimed that it is not up to them, “nor up to the Church”, to decide what would be a “human and worthy” death, but “only up to the person in question”.

On October 6, 2016, the press agency cath.ch observed: “The latest statistics reveal (…) that the practice of assisted suicide continues to grow in Switzerland,” and quoted an average annual increase of 25%. In 2015, 1,340 persons in the country made use of the practice.