The Catholic Weekly 3 May 2020

15 3, May, 2020 catholicweekly.com.au Death surge warning Bishops demand Mass Chinese officials remove church crosses Cardinal spells out consequences of court permitting euthanasia of those with dementia THE ITALIAN bishops’ con- ference accused the govern- ment of adopting plans to ease the country’s COVID-19 lockdown rules in a way that “arbitrarily excludes the pos- sibility of celebrating Mass with the people.” The statement was released on 26 April shortly after Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte an- nounced a very gradual eas- ing of the lockdown measures in stages until 1 June. The measures foresee the possibility of once again hold- ing funeral services, with a maximum of 15 people pres- ent, beginning on 4 May, but not regular Masses. The bishops said Catholics had “accepted, with suffering and a sense of responsibility, the government limitations imposed to face a health emergency.” Masses with the public present and all other gath- erings of any kind have been banned in Italy since 9 March. COMMUNIST AUTHORI- TIES in territory covered by the Anhui Diocese removed crosses from the top of two church buildings, sources told ucanews.com on 27 April. The sources said they fear more such actions. Authorities removed the cross of Our Lady of the Rosa- ry Church on 18 April, said a man ucanews.com identified only as “John, a source in the diocese.” He said the parish was reg- istered with the government, but had no priests or nuns to lead its religious activities. Lay parishioners managed parish religious programs. Five days A DUTCH cardinal predicted that the number of euthanasia cases in the Netherlands will surge after the country’s high- est court gave the green light to allow the killing of demen- tia patients no longer able to give their consent. The Supreme Court of the Netherlands ruled on 22 April that doctors could euthanise patients with severe demen- tia and who could no longer express their wishes if they had left an advance request in writing to say they wished to die. Cardinal Willem Eijk of Utrecht, president of the Bish- ops’ Conference of the Neth- erlands, said, however, the court’s ruling would not only make it easier for doctors to take the lives of dementia pa- tients but would also put them under pressure to do so. “One may fear that the Supreme Court’s judgment, though making physicians perhaps more uncertain in performing euthanasia in pa- tients with advanced demen- tia, will not lead in general to a decrease of the number of cases of euthanasia and med- ically assisted suicide,” Cardi- nal Eijk said on behalf of the bishops’ conference. “Patients and their relatives could think on the basis of the judgment ... that there is a kind of a right to euthanasia in cases of advanced dementia with suffering, deemed with- out prospect (of recovery) and unbearable, though the Su- preme Court does not say that and the law on euthanasia does not oblige a physician to perform euthanasia,” he said in a statement sent on 24 April to CNS. “Physicians of nursing homes therefore fear that they will be put under pressure by patients with dementia and their relatives to perform eu- thanasia as a consequence of the Supreme Court’s judg- ment,” he said. The court sought to offer clarity to potential ambiguity in the law following the pros- ecution of a doctor who in 2016 drugged a woman with Alzheimer’s disease after she resisted his attempts to give her a lethal injection. The 74-year-old patient had earlier instructed her family that she wanted to die by euthanasia but at a time of her choosing. She became so demented that she could no ¾ ¾ Cindy Wooden ¾ ¾ Simon Caldwell A priest celebrates Easter Mass via livestream from an empty church in San Giorgio Ionico, Italy, during the COVID-19 pandemic. PHOTO: CNS PHOTO/ALESSANDRO GAROFALO, REUTERS A cross atop a Catholic church in Tianjin, China. PHOTO: CNS PHOTO/KIM KYUNG-HOON, REUTERS But during their talks with the government over the past month, the statement said, the bishops explained “in a very explicit way that once the limitations imposed to deal with the pandemic be- gan to be reduced, the church demands that it be able to re- sume its pastoral work.” “Now after weeks of nego- tiations in which the CEI (the bishops’ conference) present- ed guidelines and protocols to be used during the transi- tion phase in full conformity with all the health norms,” the bishops said, Conte’s plan “ar- bitrarily excludes the celebra- tion of Mass with the public.” The prime minister and his COVID-19 task force “must before the incident, John told ucanews.com, parish leaders approached local authorities about repairing the building, but officials said the plan was to remove the crosses of both Catholic and Protestant churches in the area. On 16 April, a local govern- ment official asked parishion- ers for the keys to the church. “They wanted to enter the church and remove the cross,” John said. The local official told the parishioners that officials were acting on the “direc- tions from superiors.” How- ever, no documents were produced to prove the claim. longer say when she wished to die so her family chose the moment on her behalf. Be- cause she fought against the injection, the doctor slipped sedatives into her coffee and her family held her down. Prosecutors accused the doctor of ignoring a require- ment of consent written into the Dutch euthanasia law of 2002, arguing the patient might have changed her mind about wishes she had ex- pressed in writing four years before her death. But a lower court ruled the doctor had not behaved ille- gally and in 2018 acquitted him, and the case was referred to the Supreme Court in The Hague for legal clarification “in the interest of the law.” The Supreme Court con- cluded that “a physician may carry out a written request beforehand for euthanasia in people with advanced de- mentia,” providing other cri- teria on “unbearable and end- less suffering” also were met. In his statement, Cardinal Eijk noted that in 2017, during the prosecution of the doctor, the euthanasia rate fell by 7 per cent, but in 2019, follow- ing his acquittal, it rose by nearly 4 per cent. The cardinal also ques- tioned whether the advance declaration could still accu- rately express the actual will of a patient and said the new ruling created greater uncer- tainty rather than clarity. “In her declaration, the woman said that she want- ed euthanasia, when she would have been admitted to a nursing home one day, but something in this declaration remained unclear: she de- termined that the euthanasia should take place at amoment that she thought she would be ready for it,” he said. - CNS distinguish between their re- sponsibility, which is to pro- vide precise indications in matters of health, and that of the church, which is called to organise the life of Christian communities with respect for the measures enacted, but also in the fullness of its own autonomy,” the bishops’ state- ment said. Late on 26 April, the prime minister’s office responded with a statement saying Con- te “takes note” of the bishops’ statement. “In the coming days, a protocol will be studied that would allow the faithful to participate in liturgical cer- emonies in maximum safe- ty as soon as it is possible.” Conte announced his plan for “Phase 2” of handling the pandemic on the same day that the country’s civil protec- tion service announced that almost 200,000 Italians had been infected with COVID-19 since February, including 256 people in the previous 24 hours. More than 26,600 people have died in Italy, including 260 in the 24 hours between 25-26 April. A few public construction projects and large factories were allowed to reopen on 27 April, but with strict measures in place for social distancing, disinfection of surfaces and a requirement that people working in enclosed spaces wear masks. As of 4 May, small funer- als are allowed, individuals are permitted to visit family members, most factories can reopen and people will be able to go to a restaurant to order food to take away; dur- ing the lockdown, only home delivery was allowed. - CNS Physicians of nursing homes therefore fear that they will be put under pres- sure by patients with dementia and their relatives to perform euthanasia as a conse- quence of the Supreme Court’s judgment ...” Cardinal Willem Eijk Now after weeks of negotiations in full conformity with all the health norms ... Conte’s plan ‘arbitrarily excludes the cele- bration of Mass with the public.’” The Italian bishops’ conference In another incident in Anhui Diocese on 19 April, a cross was removed from a church in Suzhou City around 4 am, said a parishioner identified only as Paul. The cross was originally scheduled to be re- moved in the afternoon. The early hours operation was carried out under police pro- tection. Police did not allow people to enter the church, gather outside or take pictures.- CNS WORLD