A number of news outlets have picked up the story that Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, has appeared to lend his support the legal toleration of assisted suicide. The story is based on a speech he gave during the International Journalism Festival in Perugia.
In a later clarification, the Archbishop stated that he “reaffirms his ‘No’ to euthanasia and assisted suicide”. He also emphasised that, in the Italian law being debated, assisting suicide would remain a crime. It is just that in certain circumstances this crime would not be penalised. The Archbishop thus expressed the view that assisted suicide and euthanasia were not only immoral but also were, and should remain, criminal. At the same time, the Archbishop expressed openness to a regime of selective non-prosecution of assisted suicide in certain circumstances, calling this a legal compromise (una mediazione giuridica).
