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  • CDF: Belgian Brothers of Charity hospitals must drop Catholic identity over euthanasia

    CDF: Belgian Brothers of Charity hospitals must drop Catholic identity over euthanasia

    CBCPNews,

    Stockman pointed out that it is “painful” that the psychiatric centers of the Brothers of Charity in Belgium have lost their Catholic status, considering also that the brothers “were among the pioneers in the field of mental health care in Belgium.” At the same time, Stockman said he recognizes that “the congregation [the Brothers of Charity] has no choice but to remain faithful to the charism of charity, which cannot be reconciled with the practice of euthanasia on psychiatric patients.” The decision by the Vatican’s doctrinal office ends three years of disputes between the Brothers of Charity and the corporation which manages their hospitals in Belgium. The Holy See also sent Bishop Jan Hendriks, auxiliary of Amsterdam, as an apostolic visitor, but he did not register any steps forward nor a desire to find “a viable solution that avoids any form of responsibility of the institution for euthanasia.” The request of the CDF to the Brothers of Charity and to the managing corporation was clear: “affirm in writing and in an unequivocal way their adherence to the principles of the sacredness of human life and the unacceptability of euthanasia, and, as a consequence, the absolute refusal to carry it out in the institutions they depend on.” The corporation “did not give assurance on these points.” The CDF therefore reiterated that “euthanasia remains an inadmissible act, even in extreme cases,” and strengthened the statement by citing St. The CDF stressed that “Catholic teaching affirms the sacred value of human life,” the “importance of caring for and accompanying the sick and disabled,” as well as “the Christian value of suffering, the moral unacceptability of euthanasia” and “the impossibility of introducing this practice in Catholic hospitals, not even in extreme cases, as well as of collaborating in this regard with civil institutions.” The Brothers of Charity is a religious congregation of lay brothers founded in 1807 in Belgium, whose specialization is care for the sick and those with psychiatric diseases.