While in Uruguay, the House of Representatives votes the euthanasia bill, the voice of the Catholic Church firmly maintains its position against the project that, if approved, would locate Uruguay as the third country in Latin America to legalize the practice.
At Declarations of the nine bishops of Uruguaythe word of the well -known priest Juan Andrés Verde, of the Archdiocese of Montevideo, who, in a VIDEOMANSAJE In social networks, he says that with this project “we are selling us cat per hare” and considered that the background issue is economical.
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The priest began his reflection commenting on a meeting that he had recently with “a man who appreciated a lot, a great lab for about fifty -one of years, who has left a very nice mark here.”
This person, he said, “is fighting with a gross cancer but is doing it big.”
“The saddest thing was to find out that they found him a remedy, but the dose comes out 50,000 pesos,” he lamented. “He told me in tears: ‘Cure, I’m giving myself half a dose, because I don’t have to pay,” he continued. “I said: ‘Huguito, don’t worry, we’re going to find him,” said Father Green.
This meeting aroused a reflection: “While in Uruguay many are looking for a remedy to live and do not have money for that dose of life, there are some others that are embanderados in how to help some, supposedly, who want to die.”
“I am not going to get into ‘euthanasia yes’ or’ euthanasia no,” he said, because “it is a very deep issue that deserves a discussion, which deserves a respectful exchange.”
However, he decided to express his “deep discrepancy with this bill that some of our legislators are wanting to vote now on 12 (August).”
“With all due respect I say it: I understand that they are selling ‘cat for hare’ and if not, explain to us why they put everything inside of the same package, why this bill enters the terminal people but also people with some chronic pathology, why people with disabilities enter, why a psychological accompaniment of a psychiatrist is not planned, or a social assistant. Post-mortem, after the person dies, when all the fish sold, ”he criticized.
The Green Father referred promptly to article 4 of the bill, “which tells you that there are palliative care but does not assure you that the palliative care package is available for you,” but the euthanasia does.
According to the priest, it is “a bill that does not accompany, that does not give you anything, that does not give possibilities to the one in that situation.”
In that sense, he stated: “Why is this way so fast, so easy and so cheap? Is this what we want the Uruguayans?”
“I hope that the one who signs this law on behalf of all Uruguayans, at least, trembles his pulse,” he said, considering that “deep down it is not a issue of freedom, it is a silver issue.”
If not, the priest warned, “Tápen us and assure Huguito and all those who fight for life those remedies, some palliative care, make sure a psychological accompaniment at least a social assistant, ensure the minimums to tell our compatriots that their life is worth, but let’s not put the cart in front of the oxen,” he asked.
“As a priest I will always be in favor of life, always, from the beginning, from conception to the end, but I will know how to respect and accompany who thinks differently and I believe that this law like this, as it is formulated, is much more the damage it can do to many, than the assumption that you want to do to a few,” he said.
“I know that this message will cost me the occasional pull of ear, but there are silences that shout more than they shut up, so today I preferred to speak the same, for so many who have no voice, but they will end in a package that they never wanted to enter, simply because they have no money,” he said.
“We like it or not, with this law, just as it is formulated, they lose the least resources, lose the poorest and that’s why we all lose, do we really want this for Uruguay?” He insisted, and changed the closing of all his messages “to the sky we do not stop”, for another phrase: “Today I am going to say that for a silver theme, the sky can wait.”
“I trust our legislators, I trust the Uruguayans,” he concluded.
Julieta Villar
I am a journalist, a graduate in Communication from the National University of La Matanza in Argentina. I have work experience in non -governmental organizations. Since 2016 I dedicate myself to Catholic journalism, first in the Argentine Catholic Information Agency (AICA) and, since 2022, as a correspondent for ACI Press for Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Bolivia.