A committee under the Bishops' Conference of Argentina has spoken against the bills pending at the country's Congress that seek to legalize euthanasia.
In an article by the Catholic World Report, the Committee for Life, the Laity, and the Family of the Roman Catholic Church of Argentina said in an Aug. 18 letter that the country faces a fresh embodiment of 'death and throwaway cultures.'
'No Indifference in the Face of Talks About Life's Beginning, End'
In its Aug. 18 statement, the committee explained that the Gospel directs people to avoid being indifferent when discussing whether ending life or its beginning is at the table.
The Church in this South American country said the present generation is at odds with a new form "of the culture of death and the throwaway culture."
The committee further argued that even if it is impossible to make the pain disappear, society always has the opportunity to use its strength to serve people in various states of suffering.
The same article revealed two new bills filed this year sitting at the Argentinian Congress calling for the legalization of euthanasia.
This brings to four the total number of bills of the same nature with two similar proposed legislation files last year, the report noted.
'Plenty of Alternatives to Alleviate Physical, Spiritual Suffering'
While it acknowledged the limitations of man in eliminating suffering, the committee explained that Argentina had been known to find alternatives to alleviate pain, both in spirit and the body.
The committee's statement identified cottolengos and hospices as places in Argentina that demonstrate the country's ways of easing peoples' pain.
"Even in cases of diseases that have no cure, all patients must be cared for and accompanied so that their lives are respected until natural death. We are not the masters of life and therefore we place ourselves at its service," Catholic World Report quoted the committee's statement.
Call for Palliative Care
The committee also called for more emphasis on "palliative and comprehensive care" to ease the tremendous pain people with serious illnesses suffer, such as cancer or heart ailments.
The National Institute on Aging defined palliative care as 'specialized medical care intended to improve patients' ongoing care by focusing on the quality of life for both the patients and their families.'
The committee further argued that medicine is not just tasked with finding a cure for illnesses but also to "alleviate and humanize" how a person dies.
The statement explained that taking life like in euthanasia is not a proper means to alleviate a dying person's suffering.
The committee likewise stressed there must be 'respect for life coming from God' in light of the many deaths caused by the pandemic.
In closing, the committee asked God's help that no room would be given on Argentinian soil to allow any legislation to "leave those who suffer most on the side of the road and exclude them," the Catholic World Report noted.
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