The 16th annual vigil for life celebrated In the newly restored Notre-Dame Cathedral of Paris on the night of May 21, while the French Parliament continues to discuss legislation that would legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Organized by the bishops of the île-de-France region, the vigil has been carried out annually since 2009. The 2025 edition, which brought together approximately 2,000 faithful, focused on the theme “Builders of love, let’s live in hope!”.
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The 2024 edition, also marked by the national conversation on issues of the end of life, took the motto “when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12,10).
This year’s meeting included a series of testimonies of people with various personal and professional history, who offered reflections on the ethical and human dimensions of care at the end of life and the responsibilities that society has towards the most vulnerable.
The hierarchy of the Church in France has expressed a deep concern for legislative developments, describing them as a possible “anthropological breakup” that threatens the inherent dignity of human life, from conception to natural death.
He bill On the end of life, currently in parliamentary review, it introduces the concept of “assistance to die”, a term that covers both euthanasia – where a third directly manages the lethal substance – and assisted suicide, in which the patient performs the final act.
Adults suffering from a serious and incurable condition that causes physical or psychological suffering considered unbearable would be eligible, subject to medical evaluation. A formal vote on the bill for May 27 is expected.
Meanwhile, Parliament members too Aprobaron On May 24, the creation of a new crime for hindering access to assistance to die. That crime would criminalize any attempt to prevent the act itself or access to information about it. This provision was inspired by the existing crime of obstruction to access to abortion in the country.
Critics of the bill, including Catholic and bioethicist leaders, argue that vague terminology – especially around the evaluation of “unbearable suffering” – represents serious risks for the value granted to life. They warn that the law could pave the path to the normalization of assisted death in standard response to disease or vulnerability.
“If it is adopted on May 27, this text, among the most permissive in the world, would threaten the most fragile and put in question respect due to all human life,” warned the French Episcopal Conference in a communication Posted last week.
The Archbishop of Tours, Mons. Vincent Jordy, vice president of the Episcopal Conference, described The proposal as a “distortion of fraternity” and requested support for palliative care as the ethical and human alternative.
During the vigil in Notre-Dame, the auxiliary bishop of Paris, Mons. Emmanuel Tois, also He urged To Catholics not only to pray, but also to act specifically: “There are many forms and places where Christians can commit more,” he said, encouraging the faithful to write to their legislators and dialogue with those around them.
In his homilythe archbishop of Paris, Mons. Laurent Ulrich, denounced the “illusion” of a “soft and chosen death.”
“It is twisting the meaning of words as people want to accept this perspective,” he continued. “To call natural death to what results from a voluntary act that causes it.”
“Calling fraternal gesture that kills the word that leads to it. Invoke a right to die when death is an unavoidable fact … add a crime of obstruction to this right to die; while for decades and even today we have multiplied traffic standards to avoid fatal accidents on the road, or to protect our brothers and sisters from desperate and suicidal gestures.”
During the celebration, prayer intentions were placed before the altar, and the liturgy included readings and hymns that reflected the commitment of the Church to the defense of life. The Eucharistic prayer Due to special circumstances, it provided a spiritual approach.
The prayer says: “Open our eyes to all affliction, inspire us the word and gesture to support our neighbor in pain or proof; grant us to serve you with a sincere heart according to the example and words of the Christ himself.”
“Make your church a place of truth and freedom, of justice and peace, so that all humanity reuses hope.”
Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA.
Solène Tadié
Correspondent in Europe of the National Catholic Register. He is Franco-Suziza and worked at the L’Osservatore Romano in 2015. He has a degree in Philosophy of the Pontifical University of Santo Tomás de Aquino.