In ‘Samaritanus Bonus: On the Care of Persons in the Critical and Terminal Phases of Life’, a recently released Church document, the pertinent question of euthanasia was once more tackled by Church theologians.
The document goes to great lengths to assert the evil and injustice of euthanasia and assisted suicide: “euthanasia … is an intrinsically evil act in every situation and/or circumstance … any formal or immediate material cooperation in such an act is a grave sin against human life” the document explains. Moreover, a person who has firmly decided on assisted suicide or euthanasia cannot receive the Sacrament of Penance, the Sacrament of the Sick, or the Viaticum (final Eucharist).
