Cardinal Sturla on euthanasia in Uruguay: the problem is “the devaluation of human life”

The Archbishop of Montevideo, Cardinal Daniel Sturla, was received on Tuesday at the Hearing in the Health Commission of the Uruguay Chamber of Senators, where the euthanasia bill is debated, which already has half a sanction.

Presented by the Broad Front, the bill that already obtained half a sanctionit provides that any person over 18 “suffering from one or more pathologies or chronic health conditions, incurable and irreversible that seriously undermine their quality of life, causing sufferings that are unbearable” can request assisted death.

In the case of receiving most positive votes in the Senate, Uruguay would become the third country in Latin America to allow euthanasia, in addition to Colombia and Ecuador.

Within that framework, the Catholic Church spoke on numerous opportunities, holding a “Firm no” to euthanasia.

This Tuesday, after the Hearing in the Health Commission where he presented the position of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Sturla gave statements to the media, in which he pointed out that “the position of the Church is well known, which is in defense of life and is contrary to the draft euthanasia law,” he collects News 5.

Uruguay’s “main problem”

“What I explained is that the main problem of Uruguay for me, bishop and citizen of this country, is a spiritual problem, which has to do with the meaning of life and with the devaluation of human life that occurs between us.”

This project, considered the purple, “instead of contributing to valuing life, helps to think that there are disposable lives and that is why we believe it is fundamentally negative.”

Given his possible approval, Cardinal Sturla clarified that “other laws have also been approved that one does not agree.” However, “we present our position, it has been received very well by the Health Commission, with much respect, also for the fact that the Church comes as such, with the archbishop, to raise its position,” he said.

“We believe the same as even in this law there is something to change, especially the name. I radically disagree (with) that Euthanasia’s law is called decent death, because that I think gives confusion to people and then how do we classify the other deaths?” questioned.

“Obviously there will always be very painful, very dramatic situations, that I respect them totally,” said the archbishop, but observed that “this law goes far beyond what would be the most dramatic situations, which are sometimes presented to have arguments to approve it.”

A “slippery pending”

Euthanasia law, The cardinal explainedcreates “a road of slippery slope”, where “many doors open that sometimes are not taken into account when defending the value of human life.”

The way to irreversible diseases, he considered, are “palliative care: care, respect, love, serve people.”

As an example, Cardinal Sturla mentioned an institution that was born two years ago in the Catholic Church:

“The Hospice San José, where people whose families cannot attend them, in a trance to die, and who receive attention, affection, palliative care and take the last days, weeks or months in peace and giving thanks for the attention received.”