During a visit to Lourdes on Sunday 27 September, Pope Leo XIV left no room for doubt regarding his position on end-of-life issues. Speaking to patients and carers, he condemned the “temptation to take a life under the guise of false compassion” and asserted that it was “impossible to regard taking a life as normal”. He called on carers to “look after the suffering person rather than put them out of their misery”, whilst advocating for a massive expansion of palliative care.
This position is entirely in line with the traditional doctrine of the Catholic Church, which rejects euthanasia and assisted suicide on the grounds that human life is inviolable. Yet, in the eyes of some sections of society and even certain believers, this stance appears deeply conservative, or even reactionary, as it refuses to recognise the right of a person suffering from a serious and incurable illness to decide for themselves the circumstances of their own death.
The French context makes this issue particularly sensitive. Since the law of 18 August 2026 – published in the Official Journal on 19 August following approval by the Constitutional Council – France has recognised a right to assisted dying under strictly defined conditions. The legislation reserves this option for adults – whether French nationals or long-term residents of France – who are suffering from a serious and incurable condition and who meet the other criteria laid down by law.
Léon XIV therefore finds himself in direct opposition to a legislative development that has now been enshrined in French law. But above all, contrary to what the firmness of his rhetoric might suggest, Catholics themselves do not form a homogeneous bloc on this issue.
An Ifop survey carried out on 28 and 29 January 2026 amongst a representative sample of 1,001 French people showed that 87 per cent of those questioned approved of the principle of allowing terminally ill patients to choose between palliative care and active assistance in dying. Among the practising Catholics surveyed, 72 per cent still approved of this principle. Regarding the draft legislation then under debate, 87 per cent of Catholics as a whole and 78 per cent of practising Catholics surveyed said they were in favour. However, the study had been commissioned by the Association for the Right to Die with Dignity, a fact that must be borne in mind when interpreting the results.
Other surveys, moreover, paint a much more cautious picture. An OpinionWay survey published by Fondapol in January 2026, carried out in partnership with the Catholic Family Associations, concluded that 53 per cent of Catholics surveyed opposed the bill under consideration, a figure rising to 60 per cent amongst regular practising Catholics. The wording of the questions and the measures under consideration differed, which means the figures cannot be compared directly. But this divergence suggests at least one thing: Catholic opinion on end-of-life issues is far from uniform.
It is perhaps here that the papal discourse encounters its main limitation. The Pope speaks on behalf of a doctrine, whilst Catholics also live in a society where individual autonomy, control over one’s own body and the refusal to endure suffering deemed unbearable have taken on considerable importance. It is possible to be a believer, committed to the value of life and in favour of palliative care, whilst still believing that a person who has reached the end of an incurable illness should be able to make a final choice.
The debate is therefore not simply a matter of a simplistic opposition between defending
