The Catholic Jurists’ Association (AJC) this Wednesday criticized Portugal’s legalization of medically assisted death, approved on Friday by Parliament and adopted on Tuesday by the President of the Republic, saying it “violates the principle of the prohibition of murder.”
In a statement, the AJC “shares Pope Francis’ sadness at the final approval of the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide in our country, with which the principle of the prohibition of murder, which structures the principle of our legal order and our civilization, has been broken.”
“Today I am very sad, because in the country where the Mother of God appeared, a law on murder was passed. Another step in a long list of countries that have approved euthanasia,” the Pope said Saturday in the Vatican at a meeting with representatives of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations, quoted by the Ecclesia agency.
In parallel, the association, led by José Lobo Moutinho, “welcomes all the efforts (coming from various religious and political circles) that have tried to prevent the passage of this law” and warns that “this struggle for life does not end.” Now”.
“The possibility of declaring, through successive reviews, the unconstitutionality of a law in aspects not yet analyzed by the Constitutional Court is still open,” argue Catholic jurists who defend support for medical professionals who “will in various ways try to preserve age-old deontological norms that are greater than any other define his mission in the service of life.
On Friday, parliament approved a medically assisted death decree vetoed by the President of the Republic with a total of 129 votes in favor, forcing him to make public what happened on Tuesday.
According to the Constitution of the Republic, with the right of veto, Parliament can approve the text by an absolute majority of 116 out of 230 current deputies, in which case the President of the Republic will have to promulgate the text. diploma within eight days of receipt.
On the same day, the head of state, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, announced that he would pass a law on euthanasia, since the Constitution, which he swore to protect, leaves no other alternative.
“I swore an oath to the Constitution. The constitution obliges the president to promulgate the law that he vetoed and which was confirmed by the Assembly of the Republic (…) it is my constitutional duty,” said Marcelo Rebelo de Souza, a practicing Catholic. in Estarrech (Aveiro).
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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