This story discusses suicide.If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 800-273-TALK (8255).Pope Leo XIV called for an end to medically assisted suicide during a visit to medical facilities in Lourdes, France, on Sunday.The pope gave Mass in Lourdes before addressing a large crowd who cheered as he emphatically affirmed the dignity of all human lives and admonished listeners to reject the "false compassion" of assisted suicide.POPE LEO XIV BEGINS HISTORIC 4-DAY VISIT TO FRANCEPope Leo XIV said he was very disappointed" that Illinois passed a law allowing medically assisted suicide.
(Alberto Pizzoli / AFP via Getty Images)"It is precisely in the name of this inalienable dignity of the human person that we must reject the temptation to cause death under the guise of false compassion," the pope said, speaking in French."It is impossible to regard causing death as something normal.What is legal is not necessarily moral," he continued.
"Here in Lourdes, the city of the sick and of hope, I appeal to the entire healthcare community to remember the profound meaning of your vocation, which is to care for a suffering person, not to eliminate that person."CATHOLIC NUNS SUE NEW YORK, SAY ASSISTED SUICIDE LAW FORCES THEM TO VIOLATE THEIR FAITH"No one ever has the right based on laboratory algorithms to decide the life of a given embryo or elderly person.Medicine must never become the servant of programmed death," he said.Assisted suicide is legal in many Western countries, including France.MICHIGAN DEMOCRATS PROPOSE PACKAGE SEEKING TO LEGALIZE ASSISTED SUICIDEPope Leo XIV is set to visit Lourdes as part of his visit to France.
( )The practice has come under heavy criticism, particularly in Canada where it has seen widespread use.Last week, the family of an 83-year-old Canadian woman demanded answers after she died through the country's medical assistance in dying program despite allegedly becoming distra...