Pope Leo XIV has condemned the legalisation of medically assisted dying, calling it “false compassion” during a major Mass at the Lourdes Catholic shrine in France on Sunday, September 27.
Speaking before about 150,000 pilgrims, many of them sick or living with disabilities, the Pope argued that human dignity should not depend on a person’s health or level of suffering. He said that causing death should not be treated as a normal response to serious illness.
The remarks come after France recently approved legislation allowing some adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal medication, putting the Pope’s Catholic teaching directly against a major change in French law.
Why Lourdes Made The Message Significant
The setting was central to Pope Leo XIV’s message. Lourdes is one of the world’s best-known Catholic pilgrimage sites and attracts millions of visitors, including sick and disabled people seeking spiritual comfort and, for some, healing. The Church has recognised 72 cures associated with Lourdes as miraculous.
Against that background, Leo focused his homily on people experiencing severe illness and vulnerability. He argued that illness does not remove a person’s dignity and urged Catholics and wider society to protect life rather than treating suffering as a reason to end it.
His position reflects longstanding Catholic teaching, which opposes euthanasia and medically assisted dying and holds that human life should be protected from conception until natural death.
France’s New Law Puts the Debate in Focus
The Pope’s comments arrive at a significant moment for France. The country has spent years debating end-of-life legislation before recently approving measures that allow lethal medication for certain patients with incurable illnesses.
Leo’s intervention therefore places the Catholic Church’s position directly into an active national debate about personal choice, medical care and the role of the state. The debate is likely to remain politically and socially sensitive as France works through how the new law will operate.
Pope Also Confronts the Church’s Own Wounds
The Lourdes visit was not only about assisted dying. On the same day, Pope Leo XIV met seven French survivors of clergy sexual abuse. Survivors who attended described the meeting positively, with one calling it “extraordinary” and saying the Pope listened to their experiences.
The meeting comes after a 2021 independent report estimated that about 330,000 children had experienced sexual abuse involving Catholic clergy and lay workers in France over seven decades. The Church has since introduced compensation and safeguarding measures, although survivor groups continue to call for deeper institutional reforms.
That made the Lourdes visit a wider test of the Pope’s message about protecting vulnerable people. While he strongly defended the dignity of people facing serious illness, he was also listening to people who say they were harmed while under the Church’s care.
Leo’s France visit continues on Monday, September 28, with a planned stop in Metz, where he is expected to speak about peace and Europe’s future.
