Pope Leo XIV condemned medically assisted suicide as “false compassion” during a visit to Lourdes, France, on Sunday.
The pontiff, 69, celebrated Mass at the shrine city before addressing healthcare workers and a large crowd gathered at the medical facilities. Speaking in French, he framed his appeal around the “inalienable dignity of the human person” and warned against normalizing the deliberate ending of life.
“It is precisely in the name of this inalienable dignity of the human person that we must reject the temptation to cause death under the guise of false compassion,” the pope said during his address.
“It is impossible to regard causing death as something normal. What is legal is not necessarily moral,” he continued.
The pope directed his sharpest words toward medical professionals, urging them to resist treating death as a solution to suffering. “Here in Lourdes, the city of the sick and of hope, I appeal to the entire healthcare community to remember the profound meaning of your vocation, which is to care for a suffering person, not to eliminate that person,” he said.
He also attacked what he described as algorithm-driven decisions about who should live or die. “No one ever has the right based on laboratory algorithms to decide the life of a given embryo or elderly person. Medicine must never become the servant of programmed death,” he said.
Assisted suicide is legal in France and numerous other Western nations, a reality the pope’s speech implicitly challenged without naming specific countries. The practice has drawn particular scrutiny in Canada, where Medical Assistance in Dying, known as MAID, has expanded dramatically since its 2016 legalization.
The Canadian controversy surfaced again last week when the family of Brigitte Stegemann, 83, demanded answers about her July 10 death under the program. Her granddaughter, Brigitte Kranendonk, who served as Stegemann’s primary caregiver, said that her grandmother had been placed at The Pearl care home in Cannifton following physical and mental decline.
Kranendonk said Stegemann maintained a good appetite even after a stomach cancer diagnosis and had initially rejected MAID when presented as an option. She described attending her grandmother’s second MAID assessment and watching the doctor explain the procedure without using the words “death” or “dying.”
“She explains MAID to my grandmother by saying: ‘We’re going to give you medicine, you’re going to feel at peace. And I just want you to know that you won’t have a bowel movement,'” Kranendonk said.
When Kranendonk interrupted to say, “She doesn’t understand what you’re saying,” the doctor allegedly turned to Stegemann and said, “We’re going to make sure you won’t have any more pain.”
A doctor then declared Stegemann “deemed fit for MAID, and we’re going to proceed,” according to Kranendonk’s account. Two days before the scheduled procedure, Kranendonk asked her grandmother directly whether she understood it would end her life. Stegemann began crying and said she had “made a mistake,” Kranendonk said.
Kranendonk said she had been told her grandmother could deny MAID on the day itself, but was uncertain whether Stegemann had ever truly consented. She chose not to press the issue further to avoid causing additional stress and to preserve their remaining time together.
The Lourdes shrine, where Pope Leo delivered his address, has long been associated with miraculous healings and draws millions of sick and disabled pilgrims annually. The pope’s selection of this venue underscored his argument that Catholic healthcare must embrace suffering patients rather than facilitate their deaths.
Pope Leo XIV, formerly Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, was elected in May following the death of Pope Francis. His Lourdes visit marked one of his most forceful statements on bioethics since taking office.
The pope is scheduled to continue his travels through France in the coming days.