Earlier this year, on Feb. 25, the French National Assembly approved after a second reading a bill aimed at legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide in the country.
Called a “right to assistance in dying,” the initiative seeks to legalize the administration of lethal medications to patients who wish to end their lives.
The proposed bill will be considered once again in the Senate on May 11–13, coinciding with the feast of Our Lady of Fátima on the 13th.
The bishop of Bayonne, Lescar, and Oloron, Marc Aillet, stated that “the stirring call to conversion and penance that the Virgin of Fátima issues to us, in response to the aberrations of the modern world, is more relevant than ever.”
The bishop therefore invited the faithful to a day of fasting and prayer on May 13 so that the Lord may “enlighten the consciences of the senators and of elected officials.”
Specifically, he warned of the “formidable moral and spiritual consequences” that would result from the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide in the country.
In a letter addressed to the faithful of the diocese, the prelate warns of the “extreme gravity” of the proposal, which, in his view, seeks to “abolish the prohibition against killing.”
He emphasized that the majority of patients who consider requesting suicide or euthanasia abandon the idea as soon as they receive care in a palliative care unit, where they are supported and their suffering is alleviated.
However, he lamented the inadequacy and lack of support this service receives in France.
With a message of hope, the prelate noted that the number of legislators opposed to the proposed bill on “aid in dying” has risen from 199 on May 27, 2025, to 226 on Feb. 25. Consequently, he pointed out that “it is by no means too late to act and mobilize.”
Aillet said he has personally written to parliamentarians to ask them to oppose the bill, which would constitute “a major anthropological rupture,” and invited the faithful to do the same.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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