Everyone single person around the world, multiple times every day are faced with the concept of ethics and morality. Ethics involves moral principles that govern a person’s behavior. Where morality is the distinction between those decisions that a person believes is right or wrong. The Catholic Church’s response to euthanasia reflects a deontological ethical perspective, as it focuses on the act itself rather than the consequences. This essay will explore what makes euthanasia such a controversial issue, the ethical framework aligned with the issue and the Catholic Church’s response to such a practice.
Euthanasia is a very controversial ethical issue in society as it concerns the life and death of an individual. Euthanasia enables people to choose to end their own life or get help in doing so if they choose. The pros to euthanasia include: it enables ill people to end their suffering, gives the person some dignity, frees up funds and medical equipment and it enables the person the ability to choose. Cons for the argument include: it devalues human lives, the religious and ethical problems involved, and that it could lead to corruption. In Australia, all laws regarding voluntary euthanasia are currently illegal in all the states and territories, apart from Victoria, which has an assisted dying scheme in place.
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The ethical framework which euthanasia reflects is deontology. Deontology is an ethical theory that uses rules to distinguish right from wrong; it is often associated with the philosopher Immanuel Kant. “Deontology theories say the rightness of actions is determined not solely by their consequence but partly or entirely by their intrinsic nature” (OxfordPress, 2019). Deontology is effective in evaluating this particular issue as it focuses on the particular event more so than the outcome. As death is considered to be bad in society, all emotions associated with it need to be removed when using the deontology framework. The categorical imperative can also be applied to this scenario. Immanuel Kant was the founder of this moral law which established that the validity or claim of a certain scenario does not depend on any ulterior motive or end. For instance, if in a certain circumstance a doctor chooses to assist a voluntary euthanasia, then, according to Kant, this becomes a moral rule.
The Catholic Church is very much against euthanasia. They believe that life is given by God and that human beings are made in God’s image. Some Catholic churches also believe in not interfering with the natural process of death. Their view is that “killing people is wrong, and this principle is fundamental to their law” (CatholicChurch, 2019). Further they believe that birth and death are part of the life process which God has created, therefore we should respect them. Additionally, no human being has the right to take the life of another person, even if that person wants to die. Pope Francis made this clear to the doctors in the Vatican, in which he told them: “Without shortening their life, but also without futilely resisting their death” (Pope Francis, 2017). The Catholic Church’s stance is also set out in the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This piece is responsible for guiding Catholic doctrine. In this writing it states: “The Council therefore condemned crimes against life such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, or willful suicide” (Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, no.27). Therefore, it is abundantly clear that euthanasia goes against the Catholic Church’s moral principles, as they believe we should not interfere with God in the life process.
Euthanasia has and will continue to divide opinions across different countries, cultures and religions. The Catholic Church’s negative stance on euthanasia has been made clear and the ethical framework of deontology has been applied to the controversial issue. Whether or not euthanasia will be legalized in the distant future is unknown, however, if this is the case, there is no doubt the Catholic Church will be completely opposed to the concept.
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