The Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin, has written to Northern Ireland’s Members of Parliament to call for their opposition to the Assisted Dying Bill when it is debated at Westminster next week.

Archbishop Martin, Primate of All Ireland, said in a statement today that he was prompted to contact MPs by “the destructive and pessimistic approach to human life proposed in the Assisted Dying Bill”.  He called on Catholics to make their opposition to the legislation known to their respective MPs.

In a statement, Archbishop Martin said: “In asking Catholics and others to oppose this Bill, I am asking them to state with confidence and joy that the future of humanity does not lie in a culture of death and the deliberate destruction of another, but in a culture of life and care for one another in which medicine and science are at the service of human dignity, not threats to our very existence.

“The life of every human person is equally valuable, whatever the stage or state of that life.  Every human life is worth living and worthy of our utmost care and protection to its natural end. As Pope Francis has said, ‘What a lie … to make people think that lives affected by grave illness are not worth living!’”

Stating further that the implications of the Assisted Dying Bill – human, moral and medical – are “far-reaching and profound”, Dr Martin appeals to all who believe in the dignity of human life “to inform themselves about the important values at stake in this debate, to pray for the progress of a culture of life and mutual care in our society and to contact their Member of Parliament to ask them to oppose the passage of this Bill in favour of a more humane and ethically sound future for humanity”.