Pope denounces euthanasia as 'sin against God'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Nov. 15: Pope Francis delivers his blessing at the end of a special audience he held for members of Catholic medical associations, in the Paul VI hall, at the Vatican. (AP)
Pope Francis denounced the right to die movement Saturday, saying it's a "false sense of compassion" to consider euthanasia as an act of dignity when in fact it's a sin against God and creation.
Francis made the comments to the Association of Italian Catholic Doctors.
Earlier this month, the Vatican's top bioethics official condemned as `'reprehensible" the assisted suicide of an American woman, Brittany Maynard, who was suffering terminal brain cancer and said she wanted to die with dignity.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Francis didn't refer to the Maynard case specifically.
While denouncing euthanasia in general, he also condemned abortion, in vitro fertilization (or "the scientific production of a child") and embryonic stem cell research (or "using human beings as laboratory experiments to presumably save others.")
"This is playing with life," he said. "Beware, because this is a sin against the creator, against God the creator."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}While shying away from hot-button, culture war issues such as abortion, Francis has spoken out frequently about euthanasia. He considers the assisted suicide movement as a symptom of today's "throw-away culture" that views the sick and elderly as useless drains on society.
Francis urged doctors to take "courageous and against-the-grain" decisions to uphold church teaching on the dignity of life, even if it requires resorting to conscientious objection.