the bishop of Nanterre has “the impression that in the start-up nation, non-productive people do not have the right to participate”

Guest, Monday, on France Inter, the Bishop of Nanterre reacts to Emmanuel Macron’s announcements on a bill for “assisted dying”.

“We have the impression that in the start-up nation, non-productive people no longer have the right to participate,” castigates, Monday March 11, on France Inter Monseigneur Matthieu Rougé, bishop of Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) and member of the permanent council of the Conference of Bishops of France, the day after Emmanuel Macron’s announcements on the future bill For “assisted dying”.

On Sunday, the head of state affirmed in an interview with Libération and La Croix that the text establishing assistance in dying under “strict conditions” would be presented to the Council of Ministers in April, with a view to a first reading in May in the National Assembly. Emmanuel Macron details these conditions and specifies that the procedure could be carried out in a care establishment, at home or in a nursing home, which Monsignor Rougé strongly denounces. The bishop judges this possibility “incomprehensible”. “This means that we will massively open up the possibility of using lethal gestures in nursing homes” And “the nursing home scandal of a few months ago would be little compared to this openness“, he believes.

Monsignor Matthieu Rougé also criticizes Emmanuel Macron’s choice of words. The President of the Republic says, in fact, that he wants to avoid the terms of “assisted suicide” or“euthanasia”preferring the more general term of“assisted dying”. The Bishop of Nanterre sees it as a “euphemism”. “This bill is euthanasia and assisted suicide (…), it is both the Belgian solution and the Swiss solution”he gets annoyed.

“A very bad surprise”

The member of the permanent council of the Conference of Bishops of France thus considers that this future bill “is a very unpleasant surprise”. He recalls that when the head of state “recently brought together leaders of religions, doctors and people committed to this subject, he announced a major law on palliative care, within which he thought of introducing a provision to respond to inextricable situations”. Monsignor Rougé considers that the future text will represent “the opposite: there [aura] a major law for euthanasia and assisted suicide, with some minor provisions supporting palliative care”. “This reversal of what he told us is both sad and worrying,” he criticizes.

In his interview, Emmanuel Macron affirms that assisted dying “would be a true revolution of humanity and fraternity”, words that displease Monsignor Matthieu Rougé. He considers that we “cannot speak of fraternity when we respond to suffering with death”. “When the vital prognosis is in jeopardy, death is not already here”, he maintains. He claims to be “very sensitive to suffering”explaining having “accompanied [son] father a few months ago”. He thus recounts that “the last days, the last hours have been a great moment of humanity”. And for the bishop of Nanterre, “integrating the humanity of death is decisive for our society to truly live.”

“Today, the real progress that would undoubtedly allow the president to make history is to massively promote palliative care when a quarter of the departments do not have it,” pleads the Bishop of Nanterre. Monsignor Matthieu Rougé insists that “progress in humanity in France today would be a massive plan on palliative care”.