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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 23 september 2020
Vatican: Assisted suicide, euthanasia "intrinsically evil"

NICOLE WINFIELD and change their minds.
ROME (AP) — The Vatican "To delay absolution is a me-
on Tuesday reaffirmed its dicinal act of the church,
stance that euthanasia intended not to condemn,
and assisted suicide are but to lead the sinner to
"intrinsically evil," and told conversion," it said.
priests they should minis- And it told priests that if such
ter to those contemplat- patients don't change their
ing such deaths to try to minds, the priests shouldn't
change their minds but be present at the time of
shouldn't be present at the death since "that could be
end if they don't. interpreted as approval of
The Vatican's doctrine of- this action."
fice, the Congregation for The Vatican backed the
the Doctrine of the Faith, use of hospice centers and
issued a lengthy new docu- palliative care, including
ment on end-of-life care deep sedation to reduce
for the terminally ill on Tues- pain. But it said such medi-
day. It takes into account cation must never be used
medical advances, the ad- with the intent of hastening
vent of "do not resuscitate" death.
orders and legal approval And it called for the expan-
for assisted suicide, as well Rome's skyline is seen from the St. Damaso balcony at the Vatican, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020. sion of "prenatal hospice
as new Vatican perspec- Associated Press centers" to provide medi-
tives on palliative care, in- cal, psychological and
cluding for children. longing a precarious and nasia, therefore, is an intrin- which the sick, the elderly spiritual care to parents
Catholic teaching holds painful life. sically evil act, in every situ- and disabled are consid- and children suffering pre-
that life must be defend- The Vatican stressed in the ation or circumstance." ered unworthy of life. natal pathologies that are
ed from conception until new document that the re- It said those who partici- In the text, the Vatican "inconsistent with life."
its natural death. It insists nunciation of extraordinary pate in it, including medi- told priests they should pro- Rather than resorting to
that chronically ill patients, care in no way can mean cal personnel, are commit- vide spiritual accompani- abortion, the Vatican said,
including those in vegeta- a request for assisted sui- ting "homicide" and that ment to those who have providing this assistance
tive states, must receive cide or euthanasia, which lawmakers who approve it expressed a desire to end "helps the parents to han-
"ordinary" care such as hy- it called "a crime against "become accomplices of a their lives through assisted dle their grief and to regard
dration and nutrition, but human life." grave sin." suicide or euthanasia. But this experience not just as a
that "extraordinary" or dis- "The judgment that an ill- Pope Francis has described it said priests can only offer loss, but as a moment in the
proportionate care can be ness is incurable cannot euthanasia and abortion the sacraments of confes- journey of love which they
suspended if it is no longer mean that care has come as evidence of today's sion or anointing of the sick have travelled together
beneficial or is only pro- at an end," it said. "Eutha- "throwaway culture," in if the patients truly repent with their child."q

What a gift: Russia offers UN staff free virus vaccines

MOSCOW (AP) — What do of the United Nations, its will not remain indifferent
you do when Vladimir Pu- headquarters and region- to them."
tin offers you Russia's new al entities," Putin said in a U.N. spokesman Stephane
coronavirus vaccine, for prerecorded speech from Dujarric said, "We thank
free? Moscow. President Putin for his gen-
United Nations staff in The coronavirus pandemic erous offer which will be
New York and around the means this year's General studied by our medical ser-
world are now facing that Assembly is a work-from- vices."
choice, after the Russian home production, for the At the U.N.'s medical
president offered Tuesday first time in its history. agency in Geneva, the
to provide them the Sput- "Russia is ready to offer World Health Organization,
nik-V vaccine in a speech U.N. workers the necessary, spokeswoman Dr. Marga-
to this year's General As- qualified help, and in par- ret Harris declined to com-
sembly marking the body's ticular we propose to sup- ment. In a report published
75th birthday. ply our vaccine for free to in the journal Lancet, de-
Only results from small early employees of the organiza- velopers of the Russian
studies on the Russian vac- tion and its subsidiaries who vaccine said it appeared
cine have been published, volunteer for vaccination," to be safe and to prompt A Russian medical worker adminsters a shot of Russia's experi-
raising concerns among said Putin, who announced an antibody response in mental Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Moscow, Russia, on
some scientists that it isn't the vaccine to broad fan- all 40 people tested in the Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020.
ready yet for widespread fare last month and said second phase of the study Associated Press
use — and prompting his own daughter is among within three weeks. How-
worldwide memes about those who have taken it. ever, the authors noted By contrast, other vac- tries, to understand if they
potential bizarre side ef- He described Tuesday's of- that participants were only cines that have also shown can protect people from
fects. fer as a response to popu- followed for 42 days, the promise in early tests are infections — and whether
"Any one of us could face lar demand: "Some col- study sample was small now being studied more they have side effects that
this dangerous virus. The vi- leagues from the U.N. have and there was no placebo widely, in tens of thousands can only be found through
rus has not spared the staff asked about this, and we or control vaccine used. of people in several coun- large trials.q